Rich Meets Poor
by midnight-writer97
Summary: What happens when Choi Young-Do, the bully of Jeguk High School and heir to one of the biggest fortunes in South Korea, suddenly becomes poor? In moments like these he can only rely on the 'welfare student' aka. Cha Eun-Sang - the one girl he used to bully because of her status. But what happens now that he too is in that situation?
1. Chapter 1

**-Disclaimer- I do not own THE HEIRS or any of its characters! Also I got the basic idea of this story (of a rich guy/family getting poor etc. from a German TV Show called 'Arme Millionäre' – but of course I created my own twist and transformed it into a kdrama ff! So – also this show doesn't belong to me nor it's characters! All rights belong to their respective orders and I'm unfortunately not one of them :/ Anyway, now that this is out of the way I think it's time to give you some general information about this story: 1. Cha Eun-Sang does not have any relationship with Kim Tan! 2 . Her mother will not play a big role in this story. 3. Cha Eun-Sang's mother is rather sick and does not live in Seoul 4. Eun-Sang lives on her own 5. It's Kim Won that brought her to this school – you'll find out later exactly why ^^ 6. I have no real idea/experience how school life etc. is in South Korea, so I created a mix between the American and European system for my purposes in this story – also everything that has to do with money is in dollars! – There's actually a ton of other things I could explain to you now here, but the best is that you find out on your own! ^^ Have fun reading and please leave a review at the end! XD**

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"Welfare student!", he shouted through the halls, annoyed that she just wouldn't turn around. Actually he was more than just annoyed, he was livid! No one ever dared not to follow his orders, no one ever simply walked away from him and never ever did someone completely ignore him. People knew that they would eventually have to face his wrath, but it seemed as if that new welfare student just didn't care. Well that wouldn't do, looked like she would soon face punishment.

"YAH!", he shouted again and once he noticed that she wasn't halting, but much rather speeding up – he did something unexpected. He actually run up to her and pulled her around, stopping her from walking away at once. "Are you deaf?"

"No, I hear perfectly well, thank you", Cha Eun-Sang answered with annoyance and lifted her chin a bit higher. While she was a bit afraid of him, fine…she was really afraid of him, she wouldn't back down. Yoon Chan-Young had warned her of the antics of the chaebols, especially of that particular specimen called Choi Young-Do, the heir to Zeus Group and one of the biggest fortunes in their country. She knew that he could be vicious, that he was a bully and she knew that she now was his official prey. "Can you let go of my arm now?", she demanded impatiently, causing that bully to raise his eyebrows. She stared mesmerized at them.

"Are you going to listen when I'll call you in the future?"

"No"

"Then you've got your answer", he replied shortly and pulled her towards the staircase and up to the roof, only letting her go once the door was closed and he was sure that they were alone. "Give me your phone number"

"Why should I?", Eun-Sang wanted to know hand put her hands on her hips, by now she was glaring fiercely at him.

"Did I say it like a question? I think not. Give it to me, while I'm still being nice", Choi Young-Do informed her and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Waiting for her to start telling him her number, but she stayed mute. "I'll have you know that I'm not a very patient man, could you hurry up a little…please?", he added after some hesitation.

"You chaebols are really weird. Why don't you just ask normally for my number? You know if you liked me in the first place, a simple conversation would've been enough, why start bullying me and then ask for my number? So weird…", Cha Eun-Sang started telling him, but was quickly cut off by a horrified looking Choi Young-Do.

"Excuse me?! I sure as hell don't like such a…a…poor woman like you! Why would I even like you? I mean look at you! Your shoes are so…old and rotten! You could barely afford our school's uniform and you're in desperate need of a new haircut! Now tell me again…why would I like someone like you? A welfare student! Why?"

"Hold up! My shoes are not rotten! I bought them some months ago!"

"See! Proof that they're old and rotten!"

"Wow. No! They're fairly new and they're still in very good shape. Besides I do not need a new haircut! I like my hair the way it is and I do not see why I do have to justify myself in front of you!", Cha Eun-Sang uttered furiously, glaring at that ridiculously tall guy in front of her. She pushed him back a little, feeling like he was invading her personal space. "Fine, let's admit you do not like me. I still don't see a reason why I should give you my phone number. Until now you've done nothing but make my day a living hell! You nearly pushed me over this morning just to say 'hi', then your girlfriend warned me to stay away from you and a certain Kim Tan in the bathroom and that's just this morning! You've humiliated me at lunch, you tripped me several times and now you nearly kidnap me, lock me up on the roof and you want my phone number? Just what the heck is wrong with you?!"

"Girlfriend? What the hell? I don't have a girlfriend", Young-Do quickly protested and held his hands up. But he didn't exactly know why he was protesting as much. It's not like he needed to explain stuff to her, or reassure her or anything else.

"Well that's quite hard to believe, look at you", Eun-Sang suddenly blurted out and held her hand in front of her mouth once she realized what she had just said. What was wrong with her? Why was she spilling such things? Why was she telling him that?!

"Like what you see?", he cheekily asked and wink at her. Eun-Sang even believed that he straightened up a little to appear taller and he seemed to puff out his chest. What was he trying to do? Look like Tarzan?

"I honestly can't see past your humongous ego, it's blocking the view", Eun-Sang retorted and to her big astonishment he actually started laughing at that. She had to admit that it suited him, he looked handsome while smiling.

"Ok, fine. You win this round, welfare student. But don't think I won't get your number, guess I'll just have to ask your friend or the principal – might as well just ask your telecommunication company"

"Do whatever you want, but leave me alone. I don't have time to waste on such childish people like you", Cha Eun-Sang told him and walked past him, down the stairs and to her next lesson. Everyone of course noticed that the welfare student was smiling when she entered the room, but to their dismay they didn't know why and it bothered them – especially that one tall guy in the corner, Kim Tan. The heir of JK Group, the son of the principal and the heir to one of the biggest fortunes in the country.

He normally didn't pay any attention to the new and poor students, but this time he was inexplicably interested in this student. Perhaps it was partly because his former best friend (now enemy) seemed so interested in her, but perhaps it was simply because she didn't seem impressed at all by all the wealth and power surrounding her.

"If you know what's good for you, Kim Tan, keep your eyes on your fiancé and don't go bothering other girls", his former best friend whispered to him and provocatively sat in front of him – just behind that new girl. Choi Young-Do smiled wickedly at Kim Tan and raised an eyebrow, daring him to do or say anything as THE Yoo Rachel entered the classroom.

Yoo Rachel was something like royalty in their High School. She was undeniably beautiful, rich, powerful and incredibly mysterious. In addition she was also the fiancé of Kim Tan and soon to-be sister of Choi Young-Do. She was the heir of RS International, a famous and incredibly expensive clothing company. She was always dressed impeccably, styled to perfection and seemed like nothing in the world could bother her – except for poor people or welfare students.

As Yoo Rachel passed Cha Eun-Sang she offered her a disgusted look, clearly showing her 'love' for the new student. She felt it was a personal insult to her and everyone else in the class that the welfare student was part of their class.

"Seems like you got a new best friend in her", Choi Young-Do quietly told Cha Eun-Sang, pulling at her ponytail to get her attention.

"Seems like your girlfriend is giving you the cold shoulder and flirting with that tall guy behind you…", Cha Eun-Sang remarked and pushed Choi Young-Do's hand away from her ponytail. "Can you not touch my hair? What are you? Kindergartener?"

"She? My girlfriend?", Young-Do asked, barely able to contain his laughter. He had never ever heard something as ridiculous as this. Yoo Rachel and Choi Young-Do as a couple? Thank god not! "She's Kim Tan's fiancé, the guy sitting behind me. I'm surprised you're not aware of who they are – seems like Yoon Chan-Young didn't prepare you too well, I'm disappointed."

"And I should care, because?"

"Because money rules the world and considering how MUCH money you have – you'd better take the things we say", at that Choi Young-Do made a gesture to show that he actually meant the entire class, "to heart", he finished with a bright smile and once again started playing again with Eun-Sang's ponytail.

"Take your hand off or I'll cut it off – understood?", she hissed and pulled out her books when she saw the teacher walk in.

"Then maybe I could…touch you somewhere else?", he whispered suggestively into her ear, causing her to shudder as goose bumps covered her skin – she quickly moved as far away from him as she could and opened her textbook, ready to take notes.

[…]

As the bell rang, signaling the end of the lesson, Eun-Sang couldn't help but to let out a deep sigh. Class had been a living hell and to make things even worse – she had been reprimanded multiple times by the teacher and had – as a result – gotten detention. As if that wasn't already bad enough – Young-Do too had gotten detention and they were expected to clean the school together. What use was it to be a rich school with dozens of cleaning troops, yet they used students to clean the halls?!

"I'll meet you later – I'm already looking forward!", were Young-Do's parting words as he left the class room. Eun-Sang – while still being rather annoyed by her classmate – couldn't deny that he had something charming about him – not that she would ever tell him that of course, his ego would no doubt explode after that.

"I see you're after the big money", someone with an annoying voice said behind her and upon turning around Eun-Sang discovered the school's queen – Yoo Rachel. "Already on your first day of school you're trying to get a rich boyfriend. Choi Young-Do is not a bad choice as such – but he's rather…special. So you better not try anything with him – I don't want to have to socialize with you or anyone else of your kind more than I already have to", Yoo Rachel told her while judging her outfit from head to toe.

"I don't see why it concerns you in any way with whom I spend my time with", Eun-Sang told the queen quite honestly gathered her things and walked out of the classroom – not caring that Yoo Rachel was glaring daggers into her back and that the weird tall guy (who had been sitting behind her during class) was also watching her closely with interest.

"This doesn't look good at all", Eun-Sang quietly uttered to herself as she entered the gym and saw all her classmates armed with balls. While Eun-Sang had always been a big fan of sports, she couldn't help but to wish that she had tried to skip this lesson. The other students were staring at her with such malice in their eyes that Eun-Sang did feel a little scared.

"New student! Stop daydreaming and join the game!", a teacher shouted from the other side of the hall – tempting Eun-Sang to roll her eyes at the man. It seemed like that teacher already hated her and she didn't even know his name!

[…]

Turned out that this lesson was even worse than her entire day had been. Every few seconds she had been hit by a ball, sometimes from people from her group even but the teacher never said anything! Even when one particularly cruel student had suddenly thrown a basketball at her (even thought these were locked away) – the teacher hadn't said anything at all. In fact the teacher had even shouted at her for getting hit by it.

As soon as the lesson had ended she had run out of the gym to change her clothes, not wanting her classmates seeing her crying. She didn't want to give them another reason for bullying here even more and while she knew that running out of the gym was exactly the best thing to do she didn't regret it.

Her entire body ached as she sat on the roof of the school and looked at the sunset. But she didn't mind it that much – she could always try to ignore her physical pain, what she couldn't ignore was the pain in her heart. The humiliation she felt, the loneliness and the sadness. These things she couldn't simply ignore.

"You know hiding won't save you from going to detention with me."

"For god's sake! Can you just leave me alone for once?!", Eun-Sang shouted at him, her hands automatically fisting. As felt a new wave of tears gather in her eyes and she turned her back on him, not wanting to give him another reason to make fun of her.

Seconds passed and she didn't hear a sound coming from him until she suddenly jumped as she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She tried to shake it off, not trusting him, but he put his second hand on her other shoulder and pushed her down.

"Don't fight it", he quietly told her and crouched down behind her, leaving his hands on her shoulders. "Look, I'm a jerk. I'm a bad guy, I try not to be mean…but you see how this worked. Now… I can only say I'm sorry. I'm sorry that the others are picking on you. I can't say that I know how this feels, but I can guarantee you that eventually it'll get better…or not. Actually there's a big chance that the others will pick on you in the future – especially Rachel", he told her honestly and gave her shoulders a big squeeze before sitting down next to her.

"I thought you were trying to cheer me up?", Eun-Sang scoffed loudly and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Yeah, well…", Young-Do said with a sigh and rubbed his neck. "Look, actually I can't even promise that I won't pick on you in the future – that's just…how things work around here, but…I'll try my best not to"

"Gee, thanks a lot", Eun-Sang muttered and got up, brushing the dust and dirt from her new school uniform. "We'll be late for detention", she spoke to him and walked away in search of the teacher that had given them detention – the first one in all of her school years.

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 **So this is the end of the very first chapter! What did you think of it? Please, please leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it XD – oh and on my part I'll try to update as soon as possible!**


	2. Chapter 2

**-Disclaimer- I do not own THE HEIRS or any of its characters! Also I got the basic idea of this story (of a rich guy/family getting poor etc. from a German TV Show called 'Arme Millionäre' – but of course I created my own twist and transformed it into a kdrama ff! So – also this show doesn't belong to me nor it's characters! All rights belong to their respective orders and I'm unfortunately not one of them :/ Anyway, now that this is out of the way I think it's time to give you some general information about this story: 1. Cha Eun-Sang does not have any relationship with Kim Tan! 2 . Her mother will not play a big role in this story. 3. Cha Eun-Sang's mother is rather sick and does not live in Seoul 4. Eun-Sang lives on her own 5. It's Kim Won that brought her to this school – you'll find out later exactly why ^^ 6. I have no real idea/experience how school life etc. is in South Korea, so I created a mix between the American and European system for my purposes in this story – also everything that has to do with money is in dollars! – There's actually a ton of other things I could explain to you now here, but the best is that you find out on your own! ^^ Have fun reading and please leave a review at the end! XD**

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After an exceptionally quiet morning at school, which surprised her quite a bit, considering that Yoo Rachel and several other girls burned holes in her back through the entire morning. To her astonishment nothing happened and she suspected that it might have to do with Choi Young-Do, who had been rather…civil during detention the previous day and to her shame she had given him her number, she couldn't quite fathom how he had persuaded her, but somehow he did manage to get it.

Eun-Sang quickly shook these thoughts from her head and made her way to the cafeteria as fast as she could. There she got herself some spaghetti with tomato sauce and after paying for her lunch (which was as expensive as anything else in this school) she studied the cafeteria hall. She didn't want to sit next to anyone of her class and she was certain that they felt just the same way as her. So the only other option was an empty table, but which one to take? There were one or two in the middle of all the others, which Eun-Sang quickly dismissed – these tables were too tempting for the others to bully her.

This left her with the choice to take a table that was situated in an alcove – from there she could watch the other students without being seen too much, plus it seemed so cozy in there – she had found her table.

She was happily eating her meal, glancing periodically at her phone and the other students – when a huge shadow was casted over her and she immediately looked at the source of it.

"You're sitting at my table", Choi Young-Do spoke with raised eyebrows – wondering what the welfare student did at his table. Had no one told the student that it was his table, his alone?

"I don't see your name written around here or even a sign prohibiting other people from sitting here", Eun-Sang informed him and turned her attention back on her meal.

"It's common knowledge, welfare student", Young-Do insisted with his tray in hand. He could've easily sat down in front of her and shared a meal with her, but he refused to look weak in front of the other students. He didn't want them – the vultures – to see that he had in fact gotten a little attached to her. He couldn't quite tell why, but she had a way to get under his skin and he feared that the other students might bully her even more because of that. "You should change the table."

"I was here first. If someone should leave the table it's you", Eun-Sang snapped at him and took a spoonful of spaghetti, hoping that he'd just leave the subject and move on. The next thing she knew her meal had been pushed from the table and the tomato sauce splattered everywhere – especially on her school uniform.

Suddenly the cafeteria turned quiet and Eun-Sang noticed all eyes were on them. Eun-Sang, sensing that she would soon start crying, looked up with her big doe eyes at Choi Young-Do. She expected to feel anger as she looked at him, but instead she felt…betrayal but mostly pity. She took a deep breath, looked up (so as the tears wouldn't fall) and then stood up. She really looked at him, noticing a painful looking bruise on his forearm where his shirt had ridden up. "A simple please would've work just as well", she told him quietly, gathered her bag and stepped over her former lunch. _'What a pity, it was really tasty…'_ , she thought as she looked at her former lunch on the floor and left the cafeteria.

 **[…]**

She still had an hour before the next lesson would start and she quickly changed into her sportswear and decided to bring her uniform to a dry cleaner – not that she had the budget to do such a thing, but since Eun-Sang was living alone and her mother wasn't there anymore to help her, Eun-Sang had to admit that she was rather helpless at times. She had learned some things from her mother, but not how to get tomato sauce out of a very expensive school uniform.

"What happened to this uniform?", the dry cleaning lady asked with shock as she looked at the beautiful – but horribly stained – school uniform.

"You could say I'm very clumsy", Eun-Sang quickly answered and searched through her bag to get her wallet. While she knew that she hadn't much cash on her, she would have to spend it all on cleaning the uniform instead of buying dinner for herself.

"Cha Eun-Sang! Your mother didn't raise you up like that!", the woman exclaimed and folded her arms over her chest, while she studied her friend's daughter. "We both know that you aren't clumsy – at least not like that. Now, I get that you do not want to tell me what happened at that school, but don't lie. It doesn't suit you", the woman told her sternly and brought the school uniform to the back of the store, reappearing a few seconds later.

"How much does it cost?", Eun-Sang asked quietly while opening her old wallet – one that looked quite damaged by now. Many people had tried to persuade her to change it, but Eun-Sang couldn't. That wallet had belonged to her father for many years and after his death she had inherited from him.

"Dinner", the woman simply answered as a new client entered the store. "We haven't seen you in a while, Eun-Sang, and we're really worried about you. So come by this week to get dinner with my husband and I, okay?"

 **[…]**

Eun-Sang entered the classroom right as the bell rang, signaling the start of a lesson. Everyone looked at her, some girls laughed as they saw her enter in her sportswear, but Eun-Sang only smiled towards them – even if she wanted to do the exact opposite. As she arrived at her table she wasn't surprised that Choi Young-Do wasn't anywhere in the classroom, but that people had actually drawn and written things on her desk – which the teacher also noticed right away.

"What have you done?!", the teacher shouted at her, pointing with horror on the new school desk. There were some obscene drawings and words written in different colors.

"It wasn't me, teacher!", Eun-Sang insisted but she knew that it was a lost battle. The teacher took hold of her arm and dragged her out of the classroom while the other students laughed with delight – the only one that didn't seem to laugh was the tall guy that was sitting behind her – Kim Tan. "I swear it!"

"That's what all of you welfare students say!", the teacher spat out and continued dragging her towards the principal's office. "But in the end they always admit it's them!", the teacher continued saying even as they entered the principal's office.

"Cha Eun-Sang... I knew it would turn out this way…", the principal spoke, sneering at the welfare student. While she had nothing directly against the girl herself – she had always been polite and knew not to try and mingle with people not from her status – she had something against welfare students going to her school. Besides she would've never let her join Jeguk High School if it hadn't been for her husband and the girl's mother that mute housekeeper. "It's alright Mr. Song, you may leave and return to your class", the principal informed the teacher that was still holding on to Cha Eun-Sang's arm. The teacher seemed to hesitate but eventually agreed and left the two women alone.

"What are you being accused of?"

"The teacher says that I drew and wrote obscene things on my desk – but I didn't! I came in just as the bell rang and over lunch I wasn't on the school campus – so there's no chance that I could've done it! Besides why would I do something like that?!"

"Young girl, calm down, okay?", the principal spoke and walked over to the window overlooking the school campus. "I know you weren't behind this, but you aren't completely innocent either", the principal informed Cha Eun-Sang and turned to look at the girl, who was shaking in her seat. If it was out of fear or anger, the principal couldn't say, but she suspected the latter. "You have to understand that all these students – their parents – pay huge sums of money to give them the best possible education. This school does not only provide the best possible education but also the key to high society, to the best universities in the entire world. They feel it is unfair that someone gets all these privileges for free – honestly, I can't blame them for letting out their anger in such a way – even if they're destroying school property at the same time."

Eun-Sang felt like crying, in fact she was crying. It was just all so unfair! She had never asked to be in this school. In fact it had been Kim Won that insisted she should attend it and all because her mother had been their housekeeper for years and years, plus her mother had also often acted as a nanny to him. When her mother had fallen ill and couldn't keep up with her job, she had moved to the countryside – leaving Cha Eun-Sang alone in Seoul. That's when Kim Won had offered her to go to Jeguk High School – he had offered her to stay at his place but she had declined, not wanting to impose on him.

"If I let you go just like that, I'll get three dozen phone calls as soon as you've walked out of my office"

"But I haven't done anything!", Eun-Sang protested, having just enough self control to not storm out of the principal's office.

"Quiet!", the principal shouted, her face suddenly red as a tomato. Once the principal was sure that she wouldn't get interrupted, the principal walked back to her desk and sat down. "Now, the school will be replacing the desk tomorrow morning. However, we can't let you off just like that. You'll get detention for the next two weeks and you'll get a warning. That'll be all."

 **[…]**

' _Two weeks of detention! Two bloody weeks!'_ , Eun-Sang thought with anger and slammed her locked shut – sending glares at those that dared to question her or make any sort of comments about her behavior. _'I should've never agreed to come to this school…'_ , Eun-Sang continued thinking as she made her way through the halls, stopping only to look at the numerous trophies and pictures in the 'glorious' hallway – the pride of the school where they liked to expose trophies and pictures of their most notorious and important former students.

' _Never in my entire life had I had detention – until the moment I arrived at this bloody school! If having detention once wasn't bad enough…two weeks, two bloody weeks of detention for something I didn't even do…'_ , Eun-Sang thought rather bitterly and continued towards the classroom where the teacher was apparently waiting for her first detention – she was told that she would've to scrub the floors and showers of the gym's locker rooms. Apparently that was the principals way of telling her that she'd better be searching a job as a housekeeper – just like her mother had before – instead of going to an elite High School.

 **[…]**

Cleaning the locker rooms of the girls had been easy, there wasn't much to do to begin with. Eun-Sang happily took out her earphones and started listening to some music – she didn't like the silence that lay over the locker rooms. Thought it wasn't too surprising – who would still be at school at nearly seven in the evening?

As she entered the locker room of the boys – chaos met her and…the smell of old sweat. On the floors and lockers towels had been carelessly thrown, some old shorts lay in a corner, as well as socks and…a half eaten sandwich.

' _Oh my god…how disgusting!'_ , Eun-Sang thought as she took a closer look at the sandwich. It was evident that it had been there for quite some days. _'How can their locker rooms be so disgusting?! Don't the cleaning crew ever come and clean this up?'_

Eun-Sang continued complaining in her head as she took out once again the plastic gloves and started cleaning the locker rooms by throwing the stinking sandwich into the nearest garbage can. She moved around the locker room, throwing the dirty towels into the laundry basket and replaced them with freshly washed towels. Next on her list of things to do were to pick up all the items that lay on the floor – so that afterwards she could clean the floor and move on to the showers.

As she tried to reach a t-shirt that was on a locker, her earphones fell out – that's when she heard a shower running. Eun-Sang quickly stuffed her earphones into a pocket and went to search for that running shower, because according to the caretaker all students had left the school building around five o'clock. There was absolutely not a single reason why that shower was still running – expect for the fact that a very stupid student hadn't turned it off. _'Oh that's just a perfect reason for them to kick me out…better go and turn it off before it floods the building'_ , Eun-Sang thought rather bitterly as she marched towards the showers. The more she approached the showers the more she was met my steam. "Who the hell let that shower run?!", Eun-Sang exclaimed angrily, entered the shower section with a loud huff and instantly started screaming as she ran smack into a very broad and well-defined, yet wet chest.

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 **Who could it be?! O_o hahaha, sorry guys for ending once again on a cliffhanger… I know I'm being mean… anywayyyyy – I hope you liked this new chapter and weren't too disappointed with it :/ Please, please leave a review to let me know what you thought of it :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters and I hope that you'll enjoy this one just as much! Have fun reading and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

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"WHAT THE HELL?!", Choi Young-Do screamed as he felt someone run into him. Then he started screaming even more as he realized that this person was a girl and finally he felt like his heart stopped beating entirely as the girl suddenly looked up and he was met with a red-faced and scared-looking Cha Eun-Sang.

"What are you doing here?!", he shouted at her and tried to keep some modesty by literally gluing himself to the wall – he didn't know how much she had seen of him, but he all too soon felt the heat rise in his cheeks. _'Oh god! She saw me naked! Shit…what to do?! What the hell is she even doing here?! It's the boys locker room for goodness sake!'_

"I…I…I…", Eun-Sang stuttered, trying not to look at the very naked Choi Young-Do in front of her. She would've liked to just disappear in a hole and forget everything about today, because she was sure that she would never get these images out of her head.

Eun-Sang heard Choi Young-Do groan loudly and she was just about to ask him why he did it, when he spoke up.

"If you can't answer my question now, can you at least get me a towel or something?", he demanded, while still pressed against the cold, tiled walls of the shower room. He had to admit while the air around them was warm, the tiles were damn cold and he already felt Goosebumps cover his skin.

Eun-Sang literally ran out of the shower and got one of the fresh towels – handing it to him with her eyes covered by her other free hand. She felt him grab the towel, his cold hand brushing against hers. _'Oh my god…I better get out of here'_ , Eun-Sang thought to herself as she quickly ran out of the showers and back to the locker room – she would've wanted to just run out and never look back, but if she had learned one thing in the past few days that she had known Choi Young-Do it was that one could never run away from a confrontation with him.

It took him a good minute before he came out of the showers and stood in front of the very silent Cha Eun-Sang, the towel securely wrapped around his waist. He simply looked at the new student and wondered what she was doing at this hour at school and especially what she was doing in the locker rooms of the boys – and how much she had actually seen of him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Detention", Cha Eun-Sang answered right away, her gaze strictly fixed on her hands in her lap. "The principal gave me detention for two weeks and for my first detention I was ordered to clean the locker rooms", Eun-Sang quickly exclaimed and earned a confused look from Choi Young-Do.

"Wait, what?", he asked with disbelieve and sat next to her on the bench. "Why would you get detention? And for two weeks?"

"Oh come on – you can't tell me that non of your friends informed you about what happened", Eun-Sang snapped at him.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you! I left my phone at home, so no… I don't know what happened this afternoon. What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything except being the poor that plays around on the territory of the rich! Well let's see…hm? Well according to everyone, including the teacher, I voluntarily destroyed my school desk by drawing and writing obscene things. And according to the principal it's my own fault that the other students did this…", Eun-Sang told her classmate and had to look up so as the tears wouldn't start falling again. She hadn't cried the entire day and now that she was speaking with her bully she was crying? _'How miserable can I get…'_ , she thought rather harshly about herself and quickly wiped away the stray tears with the sleeve of her jacket.

Young-Do looked at Cha Eun-Sang, who was fighting against her tears, and regretted being mean to her at lunch. He really hadn't meant to, in fact he had done these harsh things because he suddenly realized that she had been nice to him and that he…liked it, in fact he started thinking that he…might…like her. And now this had happened in the afternoon because he had been so weak after the realization that he hadn't dared to come back to school in the afternoon and to face her!

He didn't quite know what to do or how to act. He had never been really close to girls – actually to anyone at all – except for Kim Tan, but that was the past and he wanted for it to stay that way. Should he hug her? But he was still shirtless! Would she think that he was trying to use this situation as an advantage? Should he pat her knee like parents always do in movies? Should he make jokes? Should he just ignore it? Young-Do hated the fact that he was confronted with so many questions at the same time.

He counted to three and acted as his instincts told him to – he wrapped his arms around the crying girl and pulled her into a hug. He noticed of course that she seamed to be frozen and he was already thinking that it was a bad idea and that he should let her go, when he felt her lean into the hug. A few warm tears dropped onto his chest and slid down his torso, tickling him – but he sat still and simply rubbed her back a little – hoping that she didn't think he was some kind of creep.

[...]

That night Choi Young-Do went home with a big smile on his face, which was a very rare occasion. Of course their butler immediately noticed it and sent Young-Do a questioning gaze – to which Young-Do only responded with a shrug of his shoulders and a boyish smile.

He entered his father's office only to be met with piles and piles of boxes – that hadn't been there the previous day or even this morning.

"What's going on?", Young-Do asked right away, discovering that his father was putting a lot of papers into the shredder. "What are you doing?"

"Why are you here so late?", his father demanded angrily, not facing his son. Young-Do felt a momentary pang in his chest at his father's behavior, but he quickly pushed these feelings aside. It wouldn't do him any good to dwell on them too long.

"I had stuff to do at school", Young-Do replied coldly, glaring at his father's back.

"Detention? Again?", his father demanded, his voice not giving any sign of disappointment or any other emotion – apart from annoyance maybe. His father had long ago stopped caring about his son's actions – except for when they were in public or if the principal called him.

Young-Do refrained from correcting his father's statement, as he wouldn't believe him anyway. He had to admit that it was in times like these that he wished for another family, a family like the ones on television or the ones he'd see laughing and having fun at the amusement parks on the weekends.

"What are you doing, father? Is there a special reason why you're destroying these papers?"

"This doesn't concern you at all! Go to you room and stay there! I do not want to see you anywhere near me!", his father suddenly shouted – to which Young-Do didn't even reacted surprised. It was rather usual for Young-Do that his father was reacting so much to a simple question, usually when he really had something to hide.

"Thank you so much!", Young-Do exclaimed, mockingly bowed to his father and strutted out of his father's office, making sure that he'd slam the door as much as was possible. He did that to anger his father. While Young-Do knew what the usual consequences were to such actions – namely violence – Young-Do sometimes just didn't care, but most of the time it was to get a reaction out of his father – one that didn't simply consist of ignoring him.

Young-Do left his father's hotel and started his motorbike – wanting to get as far and as fast away as possible. He didn't think about where he could go, where he could spend the night, he simply wanted to get away from his father and his influence. He didn't know how long he had driven, but eventually he arrived in a district of Seoul that he usually didn't set foot in – due to its low quality and cheap accommodation. He felt rather out of place with his brand new motorbike, expensive clothes and accessories – yet he felt at peace here, because no one knew who he was – expect the one person that was living on the rooftop of the smaller building he was standing in front of.

He wasn't quite sure what he was doing here, but he couldn't bring himself to leave either. He knew he could've simply gone to one of his friend's house (not that he really had close friends or any kind of friends except for Yoo Rachel, Lee Bo-Na, Yoon Chan-Young and Jo Myung-Soo) or even Myung-Soo's studio where the 'gang' usually hangs out.

With a lot of apprehension Choi Young-Do knocked on her front door. He heard someone move around the apartment, turn down the TV and fuss with the keys of the door. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Young-Do, Cha Eun-Sang opened the front door – standing with a shocked expression in her hoodie with Christmas designs and in her pajamas, her hair pulled into a messy bun.

"Choi Young-Do…what are you doing here?", she asked nervously, glancing with apprehension behind him – to see if someone was hiding behind him, ready to take embarrassing pictures of her.

"Are you waiting for someone?", Young-Do demanded after noticing the way she tried to peer around him – not that she had much luck with him towering over her.

"No, just wondering if you had some hidden cameras installed to take embarrassing pictures of me and then post them on social media", Cha Eun-Sang honestly answered him, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she looked at him from head to toe.

On his side Young-Do had the sudden urge to cringe at her statement – because he knew how true they might've been from time to time – not that taking embarrassing pictures and sending them to their classmates was something he'd do – it simply wasn't his style.

"What are you doing here, Choi Young-Do?", she asked more softly, after noticing a certain glint in his eyes that made her feel guilty. They had gotten along tonight, he had even consoled her! Okay, he was mostly to blame that she had gotten bullied as he had started it all, but still! Many boys would've not placed their egos to the side to comfort a girl in front of them – especially if said girl had just accidentally seen them starknaked.

"I…was wondering if…", Young-Do started to ask her, but nearly immediately stopped speaking as he was stuttering like some school boy with a crush – not that he had a crush on Cha Eun-Sang! No, someone of his social status could NOT have a crush on someone like her – no matter how tempting it seemed.

"If what?"

"If you could make me dinner?"

"What?!", Eun-Sang exclaimed, tempted to just slam the front door into his handsome face. She had known and witnessed that he could be a weird person, but she hadn't thought that he'd be as ruthless as to bother her at nearly ten thirty in the evening just to make him dinner. "What do you think I am? You're housekeeper?!", Eun-Sang raged, trying to slam the door shut, but Young-Do put his foot in between – making it impossible to shut the door without smashing his foot into pieces.

"Wait! That's…not what I meant to say", Young-Do confessed and massaged his neck to ease the tension.

"But that's exactly what you said"

"Can you not interrupt me? Please?", Young-Do demanded, waiting for Eun-Sang to nod or give any other sort of sign, before continuing. "Look, I…am not good with words", he stopped himself as he heard Eun-Sang scoff at that. "Fine! I don't even know why I came by and that's the reason why I made up that idiotic excuse! Happy?"

"Finally you're being truthful", Eun-Sang spoke and opened the door, stepping to the side to make him place to enter her tiny apartment. "Welcome to my humble abode!"

* * *

 **Ah, Young-Do and his extraordinary 'talent' for words XD I hope you liked the chapter and will continue reading this story in the future ;D I promise that I'll update as soon as possible again – please leave a message at the end to let me know what you thought of it! ^^ Thanks so much!**


	4. Chapter 4

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters and I hope that you'll enjoy this one just as much! Have fun reading and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

"That's where you live?", Young-Do demanded with an incredulous look after having taken off his shoes and looking at the one room apartment (not counting the bathroom). He had to admit that he was rather surprised by the size of it.

"Yes, that's where I live. I know it's probably as big as your closet, but I can't exactly afford something bigger", Cha Eun-Sang told him and moved to the small kitchenette on the left of the room, pouring some hot chocolate, which she had just made before he rang at her doorbell, into two mugs. One of them had Hello Kitty on it and the other one had Minions on it. "Here, I know it's not some expensive chocolate, but I can guarantee you it's delicious", Cha Eun-Sang explained to him and handed him the mug with Hello Kitty on it – earning a questioning look from Choi Young-Do.

"I didn't mean it offensive, the thing about your apartment. Sure it's small, tiny even, but it looks…cozy. I like it", he told Cha Eun-Sang and quickly took a sip from his mug as to fill the silence. The hot liquid entered his mouth and he had to restrain himself from closing his eyes in appreciation. Cha Eun-Sang hadn't lied when she had told him that it was delicious. "It's really good! Where'd you get it?"

Cha Eun-Sang seemed to fidget with the hem of her shirt, while deciding if she should tell Choi Young-Do the truth. "Actually I got it as a present at Christmas…it comes from Switzerland and apparently it's very popular there", Eun-Sang told him and Young-Do immediately noticed that she had hesitated shortly. That made him wonder why of course. "So…what brings you here?"

"I needed to get out of my house for a while", Choi Young-Do answered her with a deep sigh and sat next to Eun-Sang on her bed – the only sitting possibility next to the two small chairs around the kitchen table.

"I see, believe it or not but I really know that feeling as well", Eun-Sang told him with a sad smile and turned to look at the TV that she had put on mute earlier on. "Do you like dramas?"

"Dramas?", Young-Do asked – wondering at the same time when he had last seen one. He ended up realizing that it had been years. The last time he had actively watched one was, when his mother was still around. They would often watch dramas on Sunday morning, but that of course stopped when his father started having mistresses. From then on he would only ever hear his mother crying in her room – they hardly ever did something else together again. And as a reaction to that he only ever listened to music nowadays – or 'read' the newspapers his father ordered him to – not that he actually ever did it. "Depends, what are you watching?"

"Faith, a drama with Lee Min-Ho! Don't you think he looks a bit like Kim Tan?"

"What? You're kidding right?", Young-Do exclaimed, not believing his ears that Cha Eun-Sang would say something so ridiculous.

"No! I swear that Kim Tan looks just like Lee Min-Ho!", Cha Eun-Sang exclaimed and vividly pointed at the screen , but Young-Do only rolled his eyes at that.

"Never in a million years! How can you compare someone like Lee Min-Ho to a simpleton like Kim Tan? Yah! Do you need to go see an eye specialist? I think you desperately need glasses!", Young-Do replied and nudged Eun-Sang with his shoulder.

"I do not need glasses, thank you very much!", she immediately shot back and stuck her tongue out at him.

"What are you, five?", Young-Do scoffed, shaking his head at her childlessness, but he too stuck his tongue out at her – feeling a little silly doing this at his age but at the same time it was strangely amusing and liberating. He felt good doing childish things, doing all the things his father and all his nannies had always forbidden him to do. He had never had a real childhood, which wasn't unusual as a rich kid. He had always had to behave properly, follow his father's orders – being a good ambassador to his family's firm and he had always despised it.

 **[…]**

They continued laughing, telling jokes and watching the drama for some hours and suddenly Choi Young-Do had fallen asleep on Cha Eun-Sang's bed. At first she wanted to wake him up and to push him out of her house, but as she took a closer look at him (she had told herself not to do it as she'd surely regret it sometime) he looked so peaceful, so angelic even, that she couldn't bring herself to disrupt his peaceful slumber. She had seen the way he looked when he came knocking at her door, disturbed, angry and mentally exhausted. She concluded that it was really best to let him get some peaceful sleep.

She too was feeling sleepy, but she wouldn't sleep on her bed as well – it would be just too improper (she couldn't and wouldn't want to imagine what her neighbor would be thinking of her – that old woman was always acting so judgingly towards her, always shooting her nasty looks and all). Just thinking about that old woman made her shudder.

Eun-Sang quietly got up from the bed, making sure that he wouldn't wake, carefully placed a blanket over his sleeping frame and went to wash the few dishes that were in the sink and got out the extra blanket and pillow from her closet, putting them on the cold and hard wooden floor – she knew that she'd eventually regret it in the morning, but if that was the price to pay she would gladly do it. She knew that she was behaving like a mother that didn't want to see the bad and the ugly in her son, but she just couldn't shake off her nature of being. She couldn't help helping others – even if they hurt her and Young-Do had certainly done that a few times in the short period they had known each other.

She went to turn off all the light and the TV before settling down in her makeshift bed. She tossed and turned to find a comfortable position and eventually she felt her eyes closing on their own accord, pulling her into dreamland, as the exhaustion took over her body and mind.

 **[…]**

A few days passed during which Eun-Sang and Young-Do rarely had any time to talk with each other but at least the bullying had entirely stopped. Some students still threw her nasty looks, but no one even dared to come near her – and she knew exactly whom she had to thank for it. But one morning as she entered the school gates she instinctively knew that something had changed.

That morning she had gotten up really late after having worked all night long. As she arrived at school, the lessons had already since long started. She quickly ran through the halls, but stopped as she passed the locker hallway. There was one locker that was completely destroyed, its door hanging loosely on its hinges – at least what was left of the hinges. There was a rotten smell coming from it – upon further inspection it was a mix of rotten eggs and…excrements. There were traces of some red spray-painting too. Eun-Sang quickly counted the number of lockers from left and from right to make sure she hadn't miscounted, but there was no chance of it – it really was Choi Young-Do's locker.

"What the hell happened here?", Eun-Sang muttered to herself and quickly hid behind the next corner as she heard someone coming closer. That person (a teacher) stopped shortly in front of the lockers before shrugging his shoulders and simply walking off – not even looking bothered or surprised by the state of the locker.

Eun-Sang quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket and went on the internet, immediately getting tons of articles concerning Choi Young-Do's family business. It turned out that all articles had been published in the early morning hours. Apparently his father (the CEO of the company) had driven the business to bankruptcy and was deep in debt with other businesses, but apparently also with quite some shady people in and out of South Korea. To make things even worse, apparently Young-Do's father had left the country with all the money that was left and had disappeared. According to other newspapers even Choi Young-Do had fled at the same time, but Eun-Sang knew better. She had seen him at school days before, so the author of the article was straight out lying.

Eun-Sang quickly pulled out her cellphone and dialed Choi Young-Do's number, but her call went straight to voicemail – giving her a bad feeling about the entire situation. She contemplated skipping school entirely – but this would give the principal just a reason more to kick her out of this school. So Eun-Sang started thinking about another plan. She let eyes wander and they immediately went back on Young-Do's locker and that horrible smell coming from it. She couldn't help but to smile at it.

 **[…]**

"Why are you coming in so late?!", the teacher screamed at Eun-Sang as soon as she set foot into the classroom.

Eun-Sang closed the door with a shaky hand and staggered towards the teacher. But as soon as she had completely turned around and faced the teacher, he took several steps away from Eun-Sang as she (she had checked in the mirror earlier on) looked horrible and had a faint glow of green. All in all she looked horribly sick and as if she were to throw up any moment.

"What…what's the matter?", the teacher asked with a tone that could nearly be described as concerned, not that any of these teachers would ever be concerned about a welfare student. "You…look sick", he told her quite frankly – all the other students murmured their agreement at that. _'No shit Sherlock…_ ', Eun-Sang couldn't help but to think as she tried hard not to roll her eyes at the comment of her teacher.

From the corner of her eyes Eun-Sang suddenly spotted Choi Young-Do. He was sitting at his usual desk (which now looked even worse than her own) and looked rather worried, but not about his appearance, which was just plain scary if she were asked, but rather about her. But before she could dwell too much on it she concentrated back on the teacher, deciding to put her acting up a notch.

"Sir…I…don't feel too…well", Eun-Sang stammered and fell to the floor. The reaction was immediate. She heard a desk fall over, several chairs screeching on the floor, some gasps, a scream and next she felt a pair of hands running over her face and neck, checking her pulse. Not for the first time Cha Eun-Sang was glad that she had gotten acting lessons when she was younger.

"Cha Eun-Sang! Wake up! Cha Eun-Sang!", she heard Choi Young-Do nearly scream at her. From the Volume of his voice she knew that it had to be him that was repeatedly checking her pulse and caressing her head. She tried not to think of it too much, as she was sure that her cheeks would get red.

"Get her to the infirmary!", the teacher commanded and nearly right away, she felt how she got lifted into some strong arms. She heard several more murmurs around her, heard a door being opened and heard how the person that was carrying her started moving rather quickly.

After a few seconds of silence, in which she didn't dare to open her eyes, as she wasn't to 100% sure that it was in fact Choi Young-Do was carrying her, she heard the person carrying her chuckle. "You can open your eyes now, Cha Eun-Sang."

Eun-Sang opened her eyes right away, but was tempted to close them right away as well as she hadn't expected Choi Young-Do to be so close to her. She observed his face, his long eyelashes, his thick eyebrows and his perfectly sculptured lips. Had he always looked so good? "Can…you let me down please?", she demanded with a shaking voice and chuckled in embarrassment.

"I'll let you walk on your own once we're at the infirmary. No one's ever in that room anyway and certainly no nurse or a doctor", Young-Do told her quietly, speeding up his pace.

 **[…]**

"So…how are you?", Eun-Sang asked him, sitting on the sickbed, while Young-Do sat in front of her on a simple chair. Young-Do raised his eyebrows at that question and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"So you read the newspapers…", Young-Do muttered and instantly his stance became more defensive. It was as if he had pulled up a thick wall in only a matter of seconds. "Must've have been happy to see what happened to my family and me. Aren't all students happy to see what happened?", he nearly growled out and Eun-Sang had to admit that it had been like a slap – the fact that he'd believe she'd think these sorts of things. Sure he had bullied her, sure she had wanted at one point or another revenge – but certainly not something like this!

"What?! NO! Why would I?", Eun-Sang exclaimed and hoped that he'd believe the things she said to him. "I was worried about you and I was about to look for you!"

"Oh come on! You saw what they did to my locker! You can't deny that it pleased you in some sort of way!"

"Are you out of your mind?! Do you think I'm such a twisted bastard like you?!", Eun-Sang shouted at him and immediately covered her mouth with her hands, but it was too late. The words had already left her mouth and Young-Do had heard them. She saw the hurt in his eyes and then…she saw like he cleared his face of showing any emotions. He put on that mask he always seemed to wear whenever he got deeply hurt.

Eun-Sang tried to reach for his arm, but he pushed her hand away, looking completely and utterly disgusted by that gesture of hers. "Young-Do!", Eun-Sang tried to call him, tried to say something to him, but he just looked at her with so much hatred in his eyes. She felt her eyes water as he gave her one last hard look and stormed out of the room, slamming the door with so much force that the walls seemed to tremble and left her completely alone and broken in the infirmary.

* * *

 **Poor Eun-Sang… I feel bad for writing this stuff, but I'll promise things will get better…eventually XD Hope you liked this chapter! Please leave a comment to let me know what you thought of it and I'll promise to update as soon as possible ;D**


	5. Chapter 5

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters and I hope that you'll enjoy this one just as much! Have fun reading and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

After that disaster Eun-Sang went straight home and buried herself under her blankets, where she cried herself to exhaustion. But not even sleep gave her any form of mercy. She was haunted by the scenes of the afternoon by the way he had looked at her but mostly by his eyes….the eyes she had come to like very much, the eyes that always held so many emotions, the eyes that seemed not able to decided what color they wanted to display and now they looked at her with anger, hatred and betrayal.

Day after day she went to school in hopes that she would suddenly see him. But every day it was the same. Everyday the desk next to hers stayed empty. Sometimes it seemed as if the class had forgotten that there was someone missing. But one thing she did notice was the way Kim Tan suddenly tried to get close to her. He would randomly ask her questions on some exercises, even thought she knew that he understood them perfectly well and that he didn't need any help or advise. Then there was Yoo Rachel, the school's queen. She never approached her, but her eyes spoke volumes.

At every lunch, Cha Eun-Sang sent Choi Young-Do a text, telling him that he should come back to school and that she was sorry about the things she had said to him. Sometimes she'd also take pictures of her meal, the school, the things she was watching on TV or she sent him links to songs she liked. But he didn't reply to a single text, nor did he ever call.

Eun-Sang was getting worried. Every day that passed (it had been five by now) she got a little more worried and she wondered where he could be. She knew from her childhood friend Yoon Chan-Young, who was also the class president, that no one (not even Yoo Rachel) had gotten any texts or calls from Young-Do.

 **[…]**

Late on Sunday night, six days after Young-Do's sudden disappearance, as Eun-Sang was preparing to go to bed, her phone started ringing. Immediately Eun-Sang pushed all thoughts of sleeping away and ran over to her phone. Young-Do's name appeared on the screen of her phone.

"Young-Do! Young-Do are you okay? Where are you?"

"Hello? Are you…Cha Eun-Sang?", a voice Eun-Sang didn't know asked her and immediately she feared the worst. She had images of a badly hurt Young-Do in her mind, but she forced herself to listen to the voce. "Your friend here is completely wasted in my bar and…he hadn't any money to pay either. He kept saying 'Cha Eun-Sang' over and over again, so I figured you were the person to be called in cases of emergency."

"Your bar? But…okay…can you text me the address please? I'll come over as soon as possible…. You said he has no money to pay the bill…how much…is it?"

"Around $500"

"$500?!", Eun-Sang exclaimed and felt her stomach twist into knots at that. Even if she reunited all the money she owned at the moment she wouldn't be able to pay Young-Do's bill. She felt like ripping his head off, even if she was extremely happy to know that he was well – she still felt like he could rip him to shreds because of this stupid bill. She especially despised that situation because she was about to demand something from a person she had promised to herself she'd never ask for anything.

 **[…]**

"Cha Eun-Sang? Why are you calling? Did something happen to your mother? Are you okay? Cha Eun-Sang!"

"My mother's fine, actually thanks to you she's seems ten years younger – so thank you so much. I'm okay, I'm fine…but…there's something…"

"What is it?"

"Have you recently watched the news?"

"Are we talking about the Choi family, especially about Choi Young-Do? Because I've heard that he's gone missing…but…from what I've heard…you aren't exactly friends?"

Eun-Sang let out a deep sigh. There was so much to explain and talk about, but just so little time. Of course she knew that Kim Tan had most likely told all these things to him and she could imagine how he had distorted some of the facts – not that he actually did that, she hadn't any proof of it, but he seemed like the type of person to do such a thing.

"It's a really long story, one that I will tell you, but for now…can you just meet me there please?", Eun-Sang asked with hopes that he'd let the subject go for now.

"Alright, I'll be there and don't worry too much, things are going to get better soon."

 **[…]**

"Here you are! That guy has been completely out for a while now! He kept on babbling and babbling weird stuff. You better keep him under control, missy!", the bartender told her as soon ash she stepped foot inside – completely ignoring her companion until he graciously pulled his wallet out. Eun-Sang was very thankful towards him and not just for paying the bill and helping her with Young-Do, but also because she thought she'd loose it if that disgusting bartender or bar owner called her 'missy' again. That was just the one title Eun-Sang could not stand.

"Here you go. $500 and a little extra for keeping our friend under your control. I hope he didn't break anything or bother you too much?"

"Oh no! Not at all, Sir! Feel free to come any time you want", the bartender immediately replied with a much friendlier tone after glancing at the banknotes in his hand. Eun-Sang couldn't quite tell how much extra he had given him, but it worked wonders on that rude guy.

"Yeah I don't think so", Eun-Sang replied, trying to wake up Young-Do but it was to no use. He simply turned his head in another direction and continued sleeping – not at all bothered by the loud music or anything else for that matter.

 **[…]**

It took them a few tries, but they had finally gotten Young-Do in the backseat of the car and Eun-Sang joined him to make sure he wouldn't start vomiting. They drove towards Eun-Sang's apartment in complete silence and she was thankful for it. She was in no mood to do some idle chitchat. She was way too worried and angry about and because of Young-Do. He had bruises all over his face and his lips were chapped – surely he had gotten into a fight with some guys over the past week she hadn't seen him.

"Are you sure you want him to stay over at your house? Don't you think it's better if I take him home with me?"

"It's probably better", Eun-Sang agreed, but shook her head as she looked at the sleeping Young-Do. "But I want to take care of him, besides you have a busy schedule and he has some explaining to do!", she spoke and glared at her sleeping friend. She wasn't sure if they actually were friends, but she liked to think they were.

"Just don't overdo yourself, you don't want to get your mother worried", he told her with a friendly smile and got out of the car, opening the door to the backseat and lifted Young-Do onto his back – carrying him up the stairs and bringing him into Eun-Sang's apartment once she had opened the door for the duo. He put Young-Do on her bed and then turned to her, giving her a brief hug – not something they usually did.

"Eun-Sang, take care – really. You know, you don't have to live here in this apartment… I know you've said many times that you can take care of yourself, and I know you can – very well even, but if you want to come live near my home, just say it", he told her sincerely, tussled her hair and walked to the door.

"Kim Won!", she called as she saw him open the door.

"What?"

"Thank you, really. I can't say how grateful I am towards you. I'll repay my debt as soon as I can", Eun-Sang promised to him, quickly shooting a glance at Young-Do as she heard him groan.

"There's no need to, Cha Eun-Sang. Just do good at school and take care of yourself as well as of that drunken idiot", he told her while chuckling, waved goodbye and closed the door behind him. She heard him descend the stairs and soon after start his car. While he had said she didn't need to repay her debt, she would probably send him a card in the morning to thank him once again. She just hoped that he wouldn't tell tonight's events to her mother, she didn't want her mother to worry about such trivial things.

Eun-Sang, still in her pajamas, quickly went to gather a bin, her phone and her laptop and sat on the floor near her bed. She kept the bin close by if he should suddenly start vomiting – she didn't hope it of course. But she knew she would have to stay awake all night long too make sure he would be well.

The hours went by in complete silence, except for Young-Do's snoring of course, and Eun-Sang felt it harder and harder to stay awake. His peaceful sleeping and the sounds he emitted were like torture to her. She longed to lay in her bed, snuggle under her warm blanked and put her head on the very comfortable pillow – yet here she sat on the cold, wooden floor next to her bed. She felt like hitting Young-Do because of it – but of course she wouldn't do it. He would be regretting it anyways to have drunken so much. She didn't even dare to imagine how strong his headache would be.

 **[…]**

Young-Do woke up with a hammering headache. He felt sick to the core and he knew that he had had way too much alcohol the previous night. He pulled the blanket over his head, inhaling the lovely scent of oranges and other fruits seemingly emitting from it. _'Wait…my blankets don't smell like this…'_ , Young-Do thought and for a split second it seemed like his head stopped hurting as he tried to think of what that scent reminded him. _'Cha Eun-Sang'_ , Young-Do suddenly remembered and opened his eyes a little, seeing only pinkish patterns of cupcakes and other sweets.

Young-Do tensed at that. That was Eun-Sang's blanket – he had seen it before, but he couldn't imagine why he was seeing it now. Had he come knocking at her door while he was drunk? What happened then? Did she invite him in? _'No, she wouldn't do that… I ignored all her calls and texts for a week! Why would she let me into her apartment and let me sleep on her bed? That makes no sense!'_ , Young-Do thought, still not daring to lift the blanket from his face.

He tried to listen for any noises near by and he could hear calm breathing somewhere, but he couldn't say where exactly. He knew that he was sleeping near the edge of her bed, so he tentatively reached out his hand to the other side of the bed, wanting to see if she were sleeping there – but the bed was empty and cold.

Young-Do slowly pulled the blanket from his face and squinted at the bright light coming from the nearby window. He groaned as it hurt his head and he immediately turned his head away from the source of light. He discovered two painkillers and a glass of water on the nightstand.

Young-Do gladly took the pain medication and drank the entire glass of water. But that single glass wasn't enough to quench his thirst. He took a look around the room, finding it weird that he still hadn't seen Eun-Sang, but he could've sworn that he heard her sleeping – somewhere. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes and neck and stood up, but he stepped on something soft and immediately he pulled his leg up. Carefully, as if fearing what he might see, he looked over the edge of the bed – finding Eun-Sang curled up on the floor with a thin blanket and in a very uncomfortable looking position. He had to refrain himself not to pinch her cute cheeks – she looked so cute and so lovable like this. Also it really touched him that she had let him sleep in her bed, despite all the things he had done to her in the past weeks.

Carefully, as not to wake her, he got up from the bed, placed the empty glass of water in the sink and placed a warmer blanket on Eun-Sang. He looked around the room, smiling at the few pictures she had hung up and decided that it was time to leave. He slowly walked towards the front door, put on his shoes and unlocked the front door after wrapping his thick coat around his body. He took a last glance at Eun-Sang and carefully opened the door.

"Are you really just going to walk out of the door again? Don't you think you've got some explaining to do?"

* * *

 **Oh! Sneaky Choi Young-Do trying to escape! :O – So that was already the fifth chapter of my story! What did you think of it? Where you surprised by Kim Won? Personally I would've liked that they showed more of Kim Won in the show. He always seemed to lack something, like a character that had not been developed entirely…but that's just my opinion and that's the reason I thought I could change it here in my story XD But he won't play a major role in this story… Anyway, I hope you liked it and please leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of this new chapter ^^**


	6. Chapter 6

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters and I hope that you'll enjoy this one just as much! Have fun reading and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

"Are you really just going to walk out of the door again? Don't you think you've got some explaining to do?", Eun-Sang told him once again as he seemed completely frozen in place – Eun-Sang feared she too would start freezing as the open front door let the cold air in and she started shivering in her pajamas.

She heard him sigh deeply, before he took a step back and let the door close on it's own. He had yet to turn around or even just utter a single word. Eun-Sang was starting to feel angry. All the fear and all the anger of the past weeks seemed to come crashing down on her shoulders. She threw her thin blanket away and walked barefoot towards Young-Do. Only stopping as she was very close to his back. At first she thought about hitting him, screaming at him to give her an explanation – but eventually fear and sadness had won her inner conflict of emotions and she wrapped her arms around his waist, letting her head rest on his broad back. She felt how Young-Do stiffened, but she couldn't let go just yet as tears escaped her eyes.

"Do you know how scared I was?! After you stormed out of the infirmary like that, looking so cold… I feared that something would happen to you!", she cried into his back, her voice muffled by his stained and slightly bloodied shirt. "I…I didn't want to hurt you, Young-Do! I swear!", Eun-Sang continued crying her eyes out, soaking his shirt in the same process.

But suddenly Young-Do freed himself from her grip, by pushing her hands away, opened the front door and stormed out of her apartment – letting the door slam behind him and running down the stairs of the rooftop as fast as he could.

Eun-Sang felt as if she had been slapped hard and then pushed into an ice-cold sea as she heard the door slam shut and him running down the stairs. Her arms hung loosely next to her, lifeless and like a mess. Suddenly she felt her knees give out beneath her and she fell to the floor – a crying and sobbing mess.

She hated herself for caring for him, a person that had done nothing but hurt her, a person that had even bullied her – but mostly she hated herself because she still couldn't let go, because she still wanted to believe that this person, deep down in his core, maybe had a tiny soft spot for her. Deep down, however, she knew that she wasn't crying just about him. She was crying because once again she had gotten rejected and because she felt so alone. It felt like the time her sister had rejecter her, well actually more the entire family by simply running away years ago and in a way her father too had rejected her – by dying when she was only five years old after he had promised to stay a lifetime with her. She knew that it wasn't a rejection, it hadn't been his wish to die so early, but it had felt like that when she was five and it still did today.

She didn't quite know how or when, but suddenly there were strong arms wrapped around her body and she didn't care who it was that was holding her, she simply leaned against the source of warmth provided by the embrace and left her head resting on that person's shoulder or chest (she couldn't quite tell what it was). Even as her tears had stopped and her sobs died down the person didn't push her away and for that she was immensely grateful.

"Sorry for crying on you like this", she mumbled into the persons shirt. She said that of course to apologize, but also to find out just who exactly was hugging her, as she didn't dare to look up just yet.

"No, I'm sorry…I shouldn't have just walked out like that", Young-Do answered, noticing how Eun-Sang seemed to suddenly freeze – only with quite some hesitation did she let herself relax once again. For a split second he wondered if she had expected someone else, if she had wanted another male to hug her and he had to admit that it hurt him. But of course he hadn't any proof of it and she was still here, relaxing against him, so he let it drop – for now.

"I'm also sorry about what happened the other day. I didn't know how to handle the situation so I came to the first conclusion and I'm sorry. I saw how much I hurt you and that…just kind of freaked me out", he continued with his explanation and wrapped his arms a little tighter around her, he just felt like he needed to have her close at the moment. He felt the need to protect her and to never let her go. These feelings scared him, but he wasn't as stupid as to run off again. He had learned his lesson after all. "And I can't figure out exactly why, but somehow I ended up drunk on your doorstep last night and for that I'm sorry."

"No", Eun-Sang told him and sat on the floor, shaking her head at Young-Do's last statement. "You didn't 'show up on my doorstep', Young-Do. My…friend and I had to come and get you. Actually last night I got a call from your phone, it was the bartender or a bar owner of I don't know. Bottom line is that I had to come and get you, plus I had to pay your bill…which was ridiculously high by the way!", she told him rather sternly and pushed him on the chest with her index.

Young-Do seemed quite shocked at first, but quickly recovered and felt embarrassment rise in him – also he couldn't help but to wonder just who her 'friend' was. "Really? Oh…I'm…gosh! I… got a bit drunk…"

"I noticed", Eun-Sang interjected, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Just because she was happy that he was back and that he apologized she wouldn't make it too easy on him.

"Yeah…okay, well. I got hammered and actually I can't remember much until this morning", Young-Do admitted, sitting by now on the floor as well. "How…much was the bill? I will of course pay it back to you as soon as I can!"

"That's what I'm hoping for… well, technically it's not me that paid the bill, but that's a topic we can discuss later. Yesterday's stunt cost us some $500."

"WHAT?!", Young-Do exclaimed, suddenly all color draining from his face as he made a mental list of all the things he still possessed. Which clearly wasn't enough to pay that debt.

"Relax, I know you can't pay back just yet and that person told me it was okay, but… Look, I don't want to hurt you again, but now that you're in this…financial situation, you really have to be more careful…"

"And avoid these kind of places, yeah I know", Young-Do admitted sheepishly, feeling now really embarrassed that Eun-Sang witnessed such a situation. Before he could spend this kind of money without a second glance at it really was nothing to him, but now…he only had $20 left in his pocket. Apart from that the only things of value he still had were his watch, he had gotten it from his mother when he had entered high school – that was already something he'd never get rid off, there were maybe a few of his clothes, but for that he had to go back to the closed down hotels and face the police – something he wasn't quite sure if he was ready to, his phone and his nearly empty wallet. One of the mobsters with whom his father had done things had taken his bike as a sort of payment.

 **[…]**

"So what do we do now?", Young-Do asked once they had finished their breakfast and cleaned the dishes. He could've asked this question much earlier, but he was a bit scared that she'd kick him out and then he'd be on the streets with nowhere to go.

"Will you come back to school tomorrow?", she asked him and suddenly realized with horror that she had completely forgotten that it was Monday and that school had already long since started. _'It's too late now anyway…I can also just stay at home now…'_

"Are you going?"

"Of course!", Eun-Sang exclaimed, shocked that he had considered she wouldn't be attending school. "I think it'd be good to come to school tomorrow. It will be hard, I can't say otherwise, but I'll be there too…and two people are always stronger than one. Plus, that way the principal cannot kick you out of school…"

"Well not tomorrow anyway, but what after the holidays? I do not have the financial situation where I can pay for such an expensive school, Cha Eun-Sang! I think it would be just better if I just went to another school or just abandon and try to find a job…", he told her in all honesty, but got shocked to the core as she flicked his forehead.

"Are you crazy?! You're so near to the finish line and you want to simply stop?! Yah!", she scolded him and made him sit down again. She was tempted to slap him silly, but knew that it wouldn't help her in any possible way to prove her point. "Look, that person that pays for my tuition is also the person that paid yesterday's bill. Now I can't go around and promise you that he'll pay yours as well, but you could at least try and talk to him and until then you'll go to school with me – end of discussion!"

"Yah! You're not my mother!"

"Yeah and be lucky for that! If you were my son, I swear to you that I would've taken all your fancy electronic thingies from you and I would've given you detention until the end of high school for your crazy talk!", Eun-Sang informed him with a hard stare, really feeling like her own mother as she said those things. "Now, do you have anywhere to go? Any place you can live at?"

Young-Do glared at her for a short moment, contemplating to simply not answer her, but after deciding that this would've been simply too childish, he simply shook his head. "No, I don't."

"Fine. Then for now you can stay here – we'll find a solution", Eun-Sang informed him and disappeared in her bathroom with some clothes in hand. He heard a few incomprehensible murmurs coming Cha Eunsang from the bathroom. It took her a few moments before she came back out, fully dressed and looking determined.

"Where are you going?", Young-Do demanded with curiosity as he saw her grabbing her purse, phone and keys. He was still a bit miffed about the way she had dared to talk to him, but even if he tried – he couldn't keep his curiosity in check.

"Well, now that you're staying for the time being here in my home…you didn't expect us to share a toothbrush, underwear and clothes, right? So let's go and get some! Come on, Young-Do! I don't have all day!"

Young-Do was confused, yet he found the idea of going shopping for clothes and house supplies with Eun-Sang oddly amusing. In fact he was nearly looking forward to this new experience as he had never done such things – at least not with a girl. He quickly fixed his hair as best as he could, tucked his creased shirt neatly into his black pants, grabbed his discarded winter coat and phone and followed her out of the tiny apartment.

* * *

 **Next up – shopping with Young-Do and Eun-Sang! ^^ I hope you had fun reading this new chapter and will also enjoy the next one XD I know it took me to update this story – so sorry for that! Let me know what you thought of this new chapter ;D Thanks!**


	7. Chapter 7

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters and I hope that you'll enjoy this one just as much! Have fun reading and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

 **In front of a mall (think of it like an Ikea kind of store)**

"So…THAT's where we're supposed to buy my things?", Young-Do demanded rather incredulously and couldn't help but to look at his classmate next to him. She was bundled up in her warm clothes, wearing a cute pink bonnet and a large, matching scarf was wrapped around her neck, nearly covering half of her face, just her rosy tinted tip of her nose and her cheeks as well as her eyes were visible. Young-Do had to refrain from pinching her cute cheeks.

"Choi Young-Do, I don't think you have the financial means to be picky right now", she told him sternly, grabbed his arm and dragged him with as much force as she could muster towards the entrance of the mall. While she understood how Choi Young-Do was feeling, she also wanted to show him his new reality and the sooner he accepted it, the faster he would be able to start a new way of living.

As soon as they entered the busy mall, they (actually it was more Cha Eun-Sang, as Choi Young-Do refused to do it) grabbed a large cart and started cruising through the different aisles. Choi Young-Do made sure to keep a safe distance from her, three full steps behind, and didn't look anywhere but at the floor. For a split second Cha Eun-Sang was tempted to sprint away, betting that he wouldn't even noticed it, but she quickly put that thought aside – it would be too childish. Eun-Sang let out some heavy sighs and continued pushing her cart towards the aisle where they could find the bed linens. She decided to ignore him for the time being.

However, as Cha Eun-Sang found a bed linen she thought he might like (and that didn't cost too much) and wanted to know his thoughts on them, she realized with horror that he wasn't anywhere near her. She quickly forgot all about the bed linen and went in search of that boy with her cart – and she found him quite soon. He was openly staring at a bed in the form of a sports car with matching bed linen.

"What the hell?! I searched you! What are you doing here?", she demanded rather angrily and glared at her tall classmate.

But Choi Young-Do only shook his head at her behavior, pointed at the bed and turned to look at her with pleading eyes. "I want that one!"

Cha Eun-Sang felt like she was about to explode. She just couldn't believe her ears! "No, certainly not. There's no space for this huge thing in MY apartment", she told him and wanted to walk away, but he just wouldn't budge.

"Please! Cha Eun-Sang! Please!", he pleaded, he thought about going on his knees for a second or two, but even if he had lost his wealth, he was still Choi Young-Do – he had a reputation to keep and begging on his knees was definitely not something he'd do anytime soon and certainly not in public!

"No! Have you even looked at the price tag? Even if I had the space in my apartment for such a thing, I wouldn't be able to buy it! I'm sorry, but no. Now can we please move on? We really need more things and time is running short."

"So heartless", Cha Eun-Sang heard Choi Young-Do mutter and she graciously decided to not pay any attention to his comment. It wouldn't do them any good if they were to start an argument now. "Can I at least get the bed linen?", she heard him quietly ask only seconds later.

Cha Eun-Sang faintly nodded and hoped that with this the issue would be resolved – looking at the excited glint in his eyes she was happy that at least one problem had been solved.

"What do we need now?", Young-Do asked after having put the bed linen in their cart and casually walked next to her. Cha Eun-Sang had to admit that she was surprised that he didn't continue walking behind her, but she wouldn't complain either.

"An additional blanket, pillow and clothes for you. Probably also a toothbrush and some other things", Cha Eun-Sang responded and grabbed a fluffy pillow from a nearby shelf. "Is that one okay?", she asked him and after getting his approval put it into the cart. She was about to go behind the cart once again to push it, but Choi Young-Do was already pushing it in front of him, leaving a dumbfounded Eun-Sang behind.

"Aren't you coming?", he cheekily asked as he stopped a few meters away to look at her with an impish grin.

 **[…]**

"Okay, I think it's best if we separate here. I also need some new clothes, so go look over there at the male section and I'll be here, okay?", she asked him, but he was already walking away from here and towards the rather cheap clothes.

She rolled her eyes at his behavior, but upon detecting a 'sale' tag near the underwear section and the sweater section, she pushed all thoughts about Choi Young-Do from her mind and concentrated on finding the best possible bargains.

Young-Do for his part was at first rather skeptical towards the cheap clothing, he disliked everything he saw. Everything looked so old and…cheap. Until he discovered some guys of his age and noticed that they didn't stop at that clothing section, but rather went to the end of it, really digging through layers of clothing until they found the good stuff. He observed them for some more seconds before he too did the same as them – and he felt like he had just hit the jackpot. There were dozens of fancy t-shirts that resembled those he would usually buy at the high-end stores. He took the one he liked most and took a glance at the price tag – he felt like he was dreaming. It only cost $25! He took out tree more t-shirts and shirts and rushed over to where he had last seen Cha Eun-Sang.

"Hey did you SEE this?!", demanded excitedly and held up his t-shirts. He didn't realize just where he was until he saw her hiding something behind her back and turning bright red. "Oh…", he mumbled quietly and looked to the side, receiving looks from other scandalized female shoppers.

"Go over there and wait a sec, I'll be right there", Cha Eun-Sang told him quietly and Choi Young-Do followed her orders quickly. He was joined by her only seconds later and he once again held up his new found clothing articles with excitement, pushing all thoughts of Cha Eun-Sang and underwear from his mind – for now. For now, because he wasn't sure if he would be able to ever erase that image from his memory – he had a darn good memory.

"Can you believe this? I have to pay $100 for these four t-shirts – normally I'd be paying each of those $100! This is like paradise! Everything's so cheap! It's awesome!"

"Yeah, well… you really have the talent to pick out the most expensive things in this store. I'm sorry to say this, but at the moment we do not have this kind of money… how about you only pick two of them?"

"And the cheapest, right?"

"Sorry", Cha Eun-Sang admitted and hoped that he wouldn't be too sad about it. She knew that it must be hard for him and deep down she wanted to gift him these t-shirts, but she really didn't have that much spare money – since she still needed to pay her rent on time or else that old woman would go and tattle to the owner of the apartment.

"It's okay, but I get to chose at least one pair of jeans, underwear and pajama!"

"What?!"

"Deal or no deal, welfare student."

"Watch it! You're now a welfare student too, idiot!"

"I still have some months of school that are paid for – until then I am NOT a welfare student, smarty pants. Now…deal or no deal?", he asked her and smiled in satisfaction as she saw her annoyance at him.

"Deal", she grumbled lowly and he felt like doing a small victory dance – which he didn't do, but he would…later tonight when she wouldn't be able to witness it.

 **[…]**

"Where am I supposed to sleep? On the floor? Oh no! Certainly not! I may not look like it, but I've actually got a weak back. If I sleep on the floor, then I'll have serious pain tomorrow – I can guarantee it! Cha Eun-Sang! I refuse to sleep on the floor! You hear me?"

"YAH! Shut up! I heard you after the first sentence, okay?", she informed him and looked at her bed. It was small, but…two people would be able to sleep on it. But they weren't just any people, they were them, Cha Eun-Sang and Choi Young-Do. Two people from entirely different social classes, yet they were both here in this small apartment…and they were most likely going to sleep on the same bed.

Cha Eun-Sang envisioned herself already praying to every possible and imaginable god and goddess that the old woman or anybody else wouldn't find out about this… arrangement.

"Well if you're not going to sleep on the floor and me neither, that means we'll be sleeping together from now on!", Young-Do told her with a wink and let himself down on the bed, patting the spot next to him.

"Yah! You make it sound so wrong!", Cha Eun-Sang laughed and shook her head at his behavior. She wouldn't admit it to him anytime soon, but she was getting used to his behavior and…from time to time she could even enjoy it. "Okay, fine. But just for tonight! Perhaps we should try and find something to make a barrier in the future?"

"A barrier? What for?"

"That it doesn't look like we're sharing the same bed? And to get some privacy?"

"What's so bad about sharing a bed? Don't tell me you've never done that?", Young-Do asked her with keen interest. Actually, it was just a façade, because he was rather nervous about this… sharing a bed and all. He had shared a bed with Kim Tan, but that was different – they were boys, plus they had been children. But here he was talking about a grown man and a grown woman, for whom he suspected he had teeny tiny feelings for.

"I didn't say that. But we were kids and this is entirely different. But whatever, let's think about that tomorrow morning, okay? I'm really, really tired", Cha Eun-Sang told him, nearly pleaded with him, and went back to the kitchen to drink a last glass of water. She then turned off all the lights in the apartment and pulled off her socks, ready to climb into bed.

"You're sleeping without socks?", Young-Do asked her and got up to let her enter the room and to sleep next to the wall. He didn't particularly like sleeping against it – he always felt trapped there.

"Yes? Got a problem with it?", Cha Eun-Sang demanded a loud yawn escaping her – which in turn also affected Choi Young-Do, who had to yawn as well.

"No, but don't you dare to put your ice cold feet against my legs, or my back or my body!", he threatened her, but they both knew he wasn't being serious at all. Young-Do made himself comfortable under his new blanket and Cha Eun-Sang did the same with hers. "Goodnight, shorty."

"Goodnight, giant", Eun-Sang responded sleepily and snuggled deeper into her pillow and blanket, soon forgetting that there was someone else apart from her in her bed wasn't and drifting off to dreamland.

 **[…]**

During the night Young-Do once woke up because it was suddenly so cold, he turned around in his bed and suddenly felt something warm and soft next to him. In his state of half-sleep, he wasn't entirely conscious, he snuggled closer to this source of warmth and let out a happy sigh once he felt the warmth wrap around him, just like a warm blanket.

 **[…]**

At precisely six thirty Cha Eun-Sang's alarm clock started ringing. Choi Young-Do begrudgingly turned away from the warmth and turned off that bloody alarm clock. He then went and turned back around, still with his eyes closed, and cuddled closer to the source of warmth. But this time he didn't even get the time to appreciate it as he was pushed away and nearly fell off the bed.

"What?!", Young-Do demanded angrily and glared at Cha Eun-Sang who looked at him menacingly, while clutching the blanket to her chest. "What did I do now?", he demanded sleepily.

"The better question is what you didn't do!", she told him and Young-Do noticed how her cheeks seemed to get redder and redder by the second. He only looked at her questioningly, not realizing what she meant. "Whatever, forget it. I'll go and take a shower first. Could you please prepare breakfast? I'll do the dishes."

"Can't I do the dishes? At least I'm an expert in that…"

Eun-Sang wanted to groan, but decided that she didn't want to start a discussion so early in the morning – she was too tired for that or not awake enough, depending on how one would look at it.

"Fine!"

* * *

 **Taadaaa! That's already the end of the seventh chapter! I have to admit that I appreciate writing Eun-Sang's and Young-Do's moments more and more! They're just too cute together! ^^ Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this new chapter by leaving a comment at the end – thank you! XD**


	8. Chapter 8

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters! I'm really, really sorry that it now took me so long to update, but I was in the middle of my finals and I barely had a minute for myself :/ Sorry once again and I hope that you'll enjoy this new chapter! Have fun reading and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

As soon as they stood in front of the school gates, Young-Do stopped walking and seemed to hesitate. Other students couldn't see them as private chauffeurs drove most of them to school and they had to use another entrance. Cha Eun-Sang didn't quite know how to react at first, but seeing as there were no other students near them, Eun-Sang approached him and took his hand.

She gave the warm hand a reassuring squeeze and pulled him towards the school offering him a warm smile. He looked absolutely shocked and kept on glancing around them, but nevertheless followed her quietly. But as they approached the main buildings, Choi Young-Do took his hand away and kept some distance from her.

"You can go first, I'll follow suit", Young-Do told her with a reassuring smile, trying to cover up for his nervousness. He watch Cha Eun-Sang leave, after she had looked at him from head to toe, and took one of the side entrances to enter the school. He didn't want to face the others just yet, he didn't want to have to see the other students arriving in their expensive cars and new clothes. He knew that he would have to face them in class, but until then he would 'enjoy' the few minutes before classes started.

He walked past his completely destroyed locker, not even sparing it a glance – he knew that it wouldn't do him any good. Of course he couldn't blame the other students, he had tormented for so long, rubbing his wealth into their faces and bullying those that didn't even have any, that he could nearly accept it that they would do these kinds of things in return. It was their revenge and he would fully accept it – he would hate it of course, he would even get the murderous thoughts – but he wouldn't act on them. He felt already bad enough having to relay on Cha Eun-Sang, who herself didn't have all that much to begin with, so he would at least try to make their cohabitation as easy and enjoyable as possible. Also a part inside of him didn't want to disappoint her – not that he would ever willingly admit such a thing. He was, and always would be, THE Choi Young-Do.

He made sure to enter the classroom as late as possible, which of course angered his classmates. They tried to make him trip, but he was able to sidestep all their fruitless efforts. They glared at him as he walked to his own, very damaged, desk next to Cha Eun-Sang's.

"Are you okay?", Young-Do quietly read Eun-Sang's neat handwriting as he opened up the small paper she had 'thrown' at him only seconds after the teacher entered their classroom. He had to admit that she was smart not to talk with him, but only to pass secret messages via 'the old' method, aka. scribbling on tiny pieces of paper.

 ** _I'm good, thanks for asking_** , he wrote on the other side of the paper and waited some seconds before handing it to her. He tried hard not to be too obvious, he knew that prying eyes were directed on them, Kim Tan and Yoo Rachel. He knew of course why Yoo Rachel was sending death glares towards his seatmate, but he didn't quite know why Kim Tan was so interested in Cha Eun-Sang. It bothered him to no ends, but he didn't say anything – after all it wasn't his place to do so, even if he would've liked to tell Kim Tan 'nicely' to stop looking at her.

 **[…]**

"Want to eat lunch together?", Cha Eun-Sang quietly asked him as they were packing their things once the bell had rung. "We could eat on the roof", she added quietly once she was sure that no one could eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Are you sure about that? What if someone sees us?"

"What if? Where's the problem? We're just eating – it's not like we are going to do other things…"

"Sad about that?", he cheekily asked and winked at Cha Eun-Sang as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Why would I?", she shot right back and left the classroom with a satisfied smirk. She casually walked down the hall and listened closely. Sure enough she soon heard someone running towards her and her path was cut off by Choi Young-Do, who held up his hands, signaling defeat.

"Fine! Let's eat together, but we still need to get lunch at the cafeteria and I can guarantee you that we'll need to change once we have it."

"I know, why do you think I keep spare clothes for me in my locker?"

"And for me?", Young-Do demanded hopefully, walking next to her and wondering how a such a tiny girl could walk so fast. While he had a huge advantage with his long legs, he had to admit that it nearly was a struggle to keep up with the girl.

"I know we didn't have the best of relationships before, but do you seriously think I'd be as mean and revengeful as to not bring any spare clothes for you?", she asked him and halted, looking at him from head to toe. "While I didn't appreciate much that you turned all perverted this morning, I wouldn't be as immature", she whispered to him once he had gotten closer.

"WHAT?! What the hell are you talking about? I was in no means a pervert! What did I even do?", he demanded with outrage and glared at the petite girl.

"Excuse me, but you were quite literally rubbing your head against my back and gluing yourself to my backside! I might not have a high IQ as you, but even I know that these weren't entirely innocent actions!", she hissed at him and watch with amusement and a tiny bit of horror how Choi Young-Do's face turned bright red. He seemed unable to look her in the eyes and so she used that moment to walk away from him, noticing for the first time the empty hallway. She knew that this was a bad sign, a very bad one at that.

"Young-Do, let's go! I'm hungry", she told him and resumed walking towards the cafeteria, preparing herself for getting food thrown at her.

 **[…]**

"So disgusting! Even thought I've showered I can still smell that rotten squid!", Young-Do complained for the hundredth time and let himself sink on the step next to Cha Eun-Sang who was trying, and failing, to get a knot out of her hair. He watched her struggle for minutes, but it was evident to him that she would not get that knot and stuff (he couldn't really tell what it was, but it was nasty) out of her hair – without help. "Give it to me", Young-Do commanded and held out his hand. Cha Eun-Sang seemed to hesitate for a moment but eventually complied and put the brush into his hand and sat on the lower step in front of Choi Young-Do so that he had better access to the mess.

"How many times do you think they'll continue doing this?", Cha Eun-Sang demanded after a moment of silence. She couldn't help but to remember the events that had taken place just minutes earlier in the cafeteria.

"I don't know, a few days or weeks", Young-Do calmly replied and realized with quite some satisfaction that he was able to partially unknot the mess, though it was by far not finished yet.

Cha Eun-Sang groaned loudly and yelped a little as Young-Do pulled her hair. "Yah! Be careful, please! I don't want to go bald!"

"Oh believe me, you won't get bald anytime soon...", Young-Do told her and tried not to hurt her too much as he continued trying to undo the knot and extract that sticky substance. "I really can't understand how you can deal with this every day!", Young-Do suddenly exclaimed with frustration and put the brush down next to him.

"Normally I do not get weird stuff stuck in my hair!", Eun-Sang tried to defend herself. While she was thankful that he was helping her, she still had to admit to herself that she wouldn't be in this situation if it hadn't been for Choi Young-Do.

"I think the only possibility is to cut it."

"Are you serious?!"

 **[…]**

Young-Do knocked once again on the door of their shared bathroom. They had been back at the apartment for twenty minutes and since then Cha Eun-Sang had locked herself up in the bathroom, refusing to speak to or to face Young-Do. While Young-Do felt bad about her, he was also starting to loose his patience – he wasn't used to people behaving like she did and it bothered him greatly. Not her behavior per se, but not knowing what to do when someone behaved like Eun-Sang did.

"Can I at least get some sign from you to know that you're actually still alive?", he demanded after a few seconds. He put his ear on the door of the bathroom and heard her quietly cursing at him – followed by the grumbling of her stomach, which made Young-Do chuckle.

He went back to the kitchen and started cooking them some ramen. While this wasn't much, he decided to add some eggs and vegetables and tasted his accomplishment. He had to admit that for once in his life he was thankful towards his father, thankful that his father had always forced him to go to the kitchens of their hotels when things would get nasty between them or between his father and his numerous girlfriends.

He poured the noodles and the soup into two equal parts into some bowls and set them on the tiny kitchen table, sitting down himself, but with his gaze fixed on the bathroom door.

"Oh wow! That smells so amazing! I'm sooooo hungry!", Young-Do said loudly and picked up his spoon, tapping it from time to time against the bowl, so that if Eun-Sang was listening she would believe he was eating it. "Oh my gosh! So delicious! I didn't know I could cook so well!", he exclaimed and let the spoon clink against the bowl once more, still observing the door of the bathroom while doing so.

Not long after did he hear groans, then shuffling of feet and finally the door opened. With her head bowed, she closed the door behind her and swiftly moved to the kitchen table, taking place in the only free seat. Young-Do watched her as she timidly picked up her spoon and slurped on the soup, before putting the spoon back down and lifting her head. He had to admit that he was getting nervous at the lack of emotions coming from her, when she suddenly smiled brightly at him, her eyes full of amazement, gratitude and dare he say…love? _'No…that's impossible, I'm imagining things…'_ , Young-Do told himself as he continued watching her.

"It's very delicious, Young-Do! Thank you so much! I love it!"

"Yeah well don't get too used to it. You're doing the dishes tonight and from then on I'll be doing them", Young-Do swiftly interjected after clearing his throat. He quickly took a big mouthful of soup, underestimated the heat of it and spit everything out – right onto Cha Eun-Sang's smiling face.

Cha Eun-Sang immediately pulled a grimace and didn't know if she should start laughing or crying. For the second time that day she found herself covered in food. She was more than annoyed actually. She had just washed her hair and cleaned her face…and now…she could do it all over again!

"Young-Do?"

"Yes?", he quietly asked, fearing that if he spoke louder that he would awake the fury inside of Cha Eun-Sang. He hadn't known her for long, but he knew that she could be Satan if she wished to be – and he feared of becoming her victim if Satan appeared.

"I suggest you don't try any funny business tonight or else…you'll be missing something you dearly cherish tomorrow morning", Cha Eun-Sang threatened him and for a split second Young-Do believed he had seen her eyes turn completely back. He gulped loudly and looked down at his lap after processing her words.

"I…I…swear! I…I won't do…an-anything! Pro-promise!", Young-Do stuttered while answering her.

* * *

 **0_0 Even if Choi Young-Do is acting all grown up – he still is a young boy, a young adult! XD and let's be honest… who could resist our lovely Cha Eun-Sang? ;D I hope you liked this new chapter and please leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it XD**


	9. Chapter 9

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters and I hope that you'll enjoy this one just as much! I'm sorry that it took me so long to update, I'll try to update faster but I cannot make any promises at the moment. Have fun reading and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

"Young-Do, you really need to find some part-time job or jobs. I can't continue financing the both of us, already on my own I had problems to meet both ends, but now that we're two…"

"It's impossible", Young-Do completed Cha Eun-Sang's sentence. He knew that this was bound to happen at one point or another, especially considering the amount of food he would eat each day – he really tried to eat less, but he was just always so hungry! If he didn't eat five times a day he felt like he was starving to death!

"I didn't mean it in a bad way!", Eun-Sang quickly interjected, hoping that Young-Do didn't get offended by her statement.

"Don't worry, I know you didn't", Young-Do reassured her and ate some of his rice. He had to admit that he was a huge fan of Eun-Sang's cooking and if he were honest with himself, he had to admit that he would love to eat it every day. While she usually cooked easy stuff, things that you could find everywhere, he had the impression that every single meal was special and he loved it. "In fact I've started looking for a part-time job, but I don't really have experience in doing so…"

"Well if you want I can ask at my former and current workplaces. Maybe one of them has a free position. I'll ask tonight when I'll get to work", she told him with a bright smile and quickly finished her meal, placing the dirty dishes into the sink and turning to look at Young-Do once again.

"When will you get home? You've already worked three nights in a row so late – you should get a break, Eun-Sang, you're always so exhausted in the mornings", Young-Do told her and approached his roommate with concern clearly written on his face.

Cha Eun-Sang began to chuckle and gave him a quick hug, fondly tapping him on the shoulder. "I appreciate your concern, Young-Do, but I'm fine. Sure I'm tired, but tomorrow it's already Friday and then I can relax on the evening. Want to do something special tomorrow?"

"If you insist, just don't count on me anymore to wake you up during classes!", Young-Do quipped and messed up Eun-Sang's hair by ruffling through it – which greatly annoyed her. "But yeah, let's do something special tomorrow evening! What about the cinema? There's an awesome new movie out!", Young-Do enthusiastically told her with a bright grin. The prospect of going to the cinema was great, but the prospect of going to the cinema with Cha Eun-Sang was even better.

"Oh, yes! That sounds awesome! I heard there's a new horror movie out! Let's go watch that one! Apparently there's even more blood and gooey stuff, than in other movies! Please, let's go watch that one!", Eun-Sang practically shouted in glee and couldn't help but to jump up and down. She didn't seem to notice that Young-Do suddenly seemed less than enthusiastic about going to the movies. It wasn't that he hated horror movies, but…he didn't necessarily appreciate them either. Plus that wasn't necessarily the movie he imagined watching with Cha Eun-Sang for their first outing. Not outing as a couple of course, but outing as roommates.

"Oh shoot! I'm late! See you later! Bye!", Eun-Sang shouted after checking her wristwatch and dashed out of the apartment, leaving a very perplexed Choi Young-Do in her wake. He only shook his head at her antics and went to close the door of the apartment, before finishing his meal and then washing and drying their dirty dishes.

Once these tasks were all done, Young-Do got bored, terribly bored. At first he tried to watch some TV, but all the shows seemed just all so annoying and shallow to him. Feeling like an eternity had passed since Eun-Sang's departure, Young-Do let out a dramatic sigh and checked his phone to see how much time had actually passed – upon doing this he felt horrible. Only a little bit over an hour had passed. "My phone must be broken – that simply cannot be!", Young-Do exclaimed and took a look at the alarm clock and his wristwatch. But unfortunately for him all the devices were right. "What the hell!", Young-Do exclaimed angrily and let himself fall on their bed. He tossed and turned but every position seemed uncomfortable to him. He rested his head on his pillow and glanced over at Eun-Sang's side. He fondly smiled at the memories that came to his mind. Thinking about the time they had spent together, Young-Do found it remarkable how well they worked and lived together. So far they had hardly ever fought and what surprised him even more, he found it incredibly relaxing to sleep next to her. Before Young-Do had never been able to share a bed with anyone, he would be unable to fall asleep or even close his eyes for that matter. But with Eun-Sang next to him, he felt like he was at peace, he could sleep so well and he could even dream – and he wasn't talking about nightmares.

 **[…]**

In the end Young-Do, being at the height of his boredom, decided to do something he hadn't done in years – he did his homework. That's how Cha Eun-Sang found her roommate, sitting at the small kitchen table with open books in front of him and scribbling furiously on the papers in front of him. He was so concentrated on his task that he didn't even hear her entering their shared apartment. Eun-Sang chuckled lightly at that and quietly closed the front door, taking her time to take off her coat and boots. Seeing as he still hadn't looked up, Eun-Sang took her chance to sneak up on him. She covered his eyes with her cold fingers and chuckled at seeing Young-Do jump a little in his chair.

"Yah! Can you not?!"

"Sorry", Cha Eun-Sang replied while chuckling and sat on the other free chair, the one facing Choi Young-Do.

"Yeah I can see that…", Young-Do grumbled and put his pen aside, closing several books and putting all the loose papers into a blue folder. "How was work? Want to drink something?", Young-Do asked and quickly got up, ruffling through Eun-Sang's hair, a habit he had picked up over the last few weeks, and went to heat up some water to make them both some tea. He found it oddly comforting to drink some tea with Eun-Sang before going to bed.

"Yes, please", Eun-Sang replied and pulled her hair tie out to let her hair loose. While she usually wore her hair in a high ponytail, she had to admit that at the end of the day she'd get headaches from it. "For once it was a bit slower in the restaurant tonight. I guess it's because of the grand opening of the new restaurant next door. They only have female waitresses and all are dressed as pirates, but with rather revealing clothes."

"Are they searching for dishwashers over there?", Young-Do demanded and winked at the annoyed looking Eun-Sang. He found it cute to see her getting annoyed so easily, he wasn't about to tell her that he wouldn't look at any other girls of course. Seeing her getting annoyed at him was much more amusing – for now.

"Ha. Ha. No they're not. Besides they only take women, all their staff members are women. While I think the concept is not all that bad, except for the revealing clothes, I hope that this restaurant will not have too much success. I know I shouldn't say this, but I really don't want to lose my job at the restaurant, especially not now…"

"I'm sure you won't lose it, Eun-Sang", Young-Do told her honestly and brought her some tea, sitting on the chair he had previously occupied. "Besides, these kinds of restaurant are only interesting for a certain time period. You'll see the hype will soon die down."

"I suppose you're right", Cha Eun-Sang admitted and took a sip from her tea. It was still hot, but Eun-Sang didn't mind much.

"Did you get the chance to speak with your boss?", Young-Do demanded after some moments of silence and unconsciously leaned forward in his chair to listen more closely.

"Yes, he himself doesn't have any open jobs for the moment, but he wrote me down some addresses. You might want to try contacting them. He isn't quite sure if they have some open jobs, but I think it's worth a shot."

"Well I guess, I'll try to call some of them tomorrow at lunch time."

"I'm so, so tired", Eun-Sang told him before yawning loudly. She then got up from her chair, stretching her tired limbs and placing her empty mug in the sink to wash it the following morning. She then walked back to Young-Do and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, before disappearing in the bathroom to put on her pajamas.

Only once the door was closed did she realize what she had just done. "Oh my gosh! What did I do?!", she asked herself quietly and turned on the sink so that he wouldn't hear her 'mental breakdown'. She looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head at her behavior. She knew that over the past few weeks and especially over the last few days, she had started to develop some feelings for her roommate, Choi Young-Do. But tonight's actions… she blamed it on her lack of sleep recently.

What Cha Eun-Sang didn't know was that on the other side of the door, still sitting in his chair, Young-Do was thinking nearly the same things. Just that he always had to touch his cheek, he could still feel Eun-Sang's lips there, how her breath had tickled him there and how her hair had brushed his face. He felt how his cheeks heated up at the very recent memory and he couldn't help but to glance at the closed bathroom door. He couldn't help but to smile and wonder what Eun-Sang was thinking and feeling at the moment. He had been fascinated by her from the first moment on he had seen her – that's why he had been so mean to her in the first place. He knew that it was sick and twisted, but he didn't know how to approach her otherwise. No one had ever taught him how to approach someone that wasn't of the same social status, no one had ever told him how to act with these people – except for mistrust, aversion and such. Looking back at that he knew that he had been incredibly stupid and that he was damn lucky that she would still talk to him, much more even share her apartment with him. And now… possibly have feelings for him. He had had feelings for her for some time now, he had tried not to act on them, had tried to suppress them, especially as it went downhill with his family and empire. He had told himself to shut off all feelings, all dreams… and then in the end it was her that made him come back to life, that made him stop all self destruction.

 **[…]**

After nearly half and hour, Young-Do started to really question what Cha Eun-Sang was doing in that bathroom. The sink had since long stopped and after further inspection he also realized that Eun-Sang's pajamas were actually still under her pillow. He chuckled lightly and knocked on the bathroom's door, hearing shuffling behind the door, however, the door stayed close.

"Cha Eun-Sang, I don't want to sound like a nagging mother hen, but you should really come out of the bathroom…", he spoke loudly and knocked on the door again. "Yah! I really need to pee!", he exclaimed after a few more moments and knocked several more times on the wooden door. This time the door was quickly unlocked and very flushed looking Cha Eun-Sang timidly opened the door. She quickly walked passed him, mumbling a nearly inaudible apology. Choi Young-Do once again chuckled at her behavior but quickly entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him.  
Emerging from the bathroom a few minutes later, he found her laying on her side of the bed, tucked under the covers and only the tip of her nose was peaking out. To his amusement and astonishment she was already fast asleep, snoring quietly, completely unaware of her surroundings. Young-Do, having already since long changed into his pajamas, quietly turned off all the lights, checked that all doors and windows were safely locked and went to bed himself, careful not to wake her in the process.

* * *

 **0_0 Feelings seem to be blooming in the household of Cha Eun-Sang and Choi Young-Do! 0_0 I wonder how people will react to that… oh and don't forget… next up is their movie date! XD Hope you enjoyed this new chapter and please leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it! ^^**


	10. Chapter 10

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters and I hope that you'll enjoy this one just as much! Have fun reading their movie date and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

"Yah! Young-Do! Come on! Hurry up! The movie is going to start soon!", Cha Eun-Sang exclaimed and nearly ran to the cinema's entrance, while Choi Young-Do tried to keep up with the petite woman, trying not to let their popcorn and drinks fall down. He had to admit that even though he had long legs and thus didn't need to take as much steps as her, he found it rather difficult to keep up with her. Had she perhaps had some sort of energy drink or coffee while he wasn't watching?

"Hey! Wait for me!", Young-Do called after her and was about to run after her, but he ran smack into someone else, causing him to spill his drink over the person and letting the popcorn fall to the ground. "Shit!"

"Yah! Can you not watch out?! You stupid jerk!", the girl screamed at him and Young-Do felt as if hell had just frozen over. He knew that voice, he knew it very well… and it meant trouble. HUGE trouble. Unfortunately for him it was too late to run away. "How dare you spill your drink over me!", the girl continued angrily, still not looking at the person that had just ruined her expensive dress. She wanted to throw a tantrum at herself for even coming to such a lowly place – she should've known that the common folk weren't properly educated.

"You!", she screamed and pointed her finger at Choi Young-Do, finally looking up. At first her eyes widened in surprise, but just as quickly anger took over once again. "What the hell?! Why did you do that Choi Young-Do?!"

"I didn't do it on purpose, really!", he tried to defend himself, not with much success – as a fleeting smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"Oh you'll have to pay for that! I'll make sure of it!"

"It was an accident, Yoo Rachel!", he exclaimed and Yoo Rachel could clearly hear that he was losing patience – well she was too! She would not let herself get pushed around or threatened by someone beneath her – while she had seen Young-Do, for a short amount of time, as her ally, he was now penniless.

"What's going on here?", a new voice interjected and upon turning around, Young-Do felt like rolling his eyes at the new participant, Kim Tan. It was so typical of him to try and play the knight in shining armor. _'He really has a hero complex…'_ , Young-Do thought with annoyance as he still quietly looked and judged his former best friend.

"Nothing that concerns you, Kim Tan", Young-Do snapped at him and turned back to Yoo Rachel ready to explain what had happened and try to make amends with her – which was bound to be a very hard, if not impossible task. She had always been too stubborn for her own good.

"Of course it concerns him! He is my fiancée!", Yoo Rachel interjected angrily, stepping over to Kim Tan and taking his arm, much to the latter's annoyance. He tried to shake her off, but Yoo Rachel's hard stare made him stop any movements. No one, not even the mighty Kim Tan, wanted to face Yoo Rachel's wrath.

"What happened, Choi Young-Do?", Kim Tan demanded, glancing down at the dirtied dress of his 'fiancée', unable to hold back the upward lifts of the corners of his lips. It wasn't a secrete to anyone that these two, especially Kim Tan, couldn't stand his fiancée much. While they did try to uphold some kind of façade at school, they never had in their inner circle, to which Young-Do used to belong.

"Oh nothing much, Tan. She just didn't watch were she was going, her gaze probably fixed on her phone, messaging her lover boy and we both know we're not talking about you", Young-Do taunted his former best friend and dared to smirk. He could see how Kim Tan was losing his patience, how he clenched and unclenched his right hand, trying hard not to punch Young-Do. Young-Do had to admit that over the years his former friend was away in America, he did learn some self-control – before he would've since long gotten beaten up.

Young-Do noticed with quite some satisfaction how both of them seemed to be fuming, but before he could really dwell on that fact he was pulled from his thoughts by the sudden emergence of Cha Eun-Sang next to him, carefully eyeing the group. He didn't know if he should be happy or not that she had joined their little quarrel.

"What happened?", she asked him quietly, eying the huge stain on Yoo Rachel's dress and the popcorn on the floor. Young-Do immediately noticed her shoulders fall at that and had to hold back from chuckling. Cha Eun-Sang was the only girl he knew, who would get so emotional over food.

"It seems as if Choi Young-Do spilled his drink over Yoo Rachel's dress and now they're trying to settle it", Kim Tan quickly interjected and offered her a welcoming smile that was met with skepticism by Cha Eun-Sang.

"Where you there when it happened?", she asked him and earned a round of stares and a shake of Kim Tan's head. "Alright, then it's just an assumption. Choi Young-Do is still innocent until proven guilty", Cha Eun-Sang replied briskly, and turned to look at her roommate. "What happened?"

"We collided, I spilled the coke on her and let the popcorn fall – but she wasn't looking either! She was just looking at her phone, not watching were she was heading", he quickly answered her, still shocked that she would rather hear the story come from his mouth than from someone else's.

"So it's an accident. What's there to even settle? Can't you both just apologize and continue on? Hate to break it to you, but the movie is soon starting and I do not want to miss the opening – plus we still need to get some new drinks and snacks", Cha Eun-Sang spoke and was about to walk away, but was stopped by Yoo Rachel's grip on her wrist. _'Bad move…'_ , Young-Do couldn't help but to think as he looked at it.

"Welfare student – you do not get to talk to us like this! Who do you think you are?! Besides, who's going to pay for the damage caused to my dress?"

"I have a name and it's not 'welfare student'", Cha Eun-Sang snapped. It was then that both males shared a look of astonishment at the girls' behavior – especially at that of Cha Eun-Sang. She had always been the quiet and non-aggressive type of girl that she would now react so strongly was astonishing to every participant. "Now, let go of my arm."

"Fine!", Yoo Rachel sneered and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "But who's going to pay for the damage caused?"

"How about yourself? First of all, you're rich enough to pay it yourself and second, you're partially at fault too"

"No! He's at fault so he should pay the $250 to clean this dress! It's a limited edition from a very well-known designer, not that you know any of these sort of things…"

"What?! I do very well know what limited editions are and I know that these sort of clothing cost a lot, but $250 for a drycleaner? Sure as hell not! I don't know what kind of drycleaner you have, but he's ripping you off! There's one not far from our school that only costs $50 max!"

"Well he's probably as cheap as you are!", Yoo Rachel snapped not very ladylike.

"Take that back!", Cha Eun-Sang exclaimed angrily.

"Never!", Yoo Rachel screeched and pushed Cha Eun-Sang back, smiling hatefully as she stumbled and fell into Choi Young-Do's arms. He tried to hold her back, keep her at his side, but she just shook his hold off and stormed towards Yoo Rachel, ripping the hair clip out and smiled in delight as the girl yelped in pain. "YAH!", Yoo Rachel screamed and was about to launch at the other girl, but Kim Tan held her back.

"Let me go!", Yoo Rachel screamed at him, trying to brake free from his grip, but he was much stronger. Thus she opted for another method, she started kicking him in the leg and biting him.

Choi Young-Do first laughed at the scene in front of him, but when he saw that Cha Eun-Sang was about to 'attack' the other girl again, he quickly pulled her into a tight back hug, effectively blocking her actions. "Hey, hey. Calm down, Eun-Sang!", he whispered into her ear, finding it increasingly difficult to restrain her.

"How can I calm down when she's basically insulting me?"

"Don't listen to her, she's not worth it."

"YAH! I can still hear you, you giant idiot!", Yoo Rachel scoffed behind them.

"That's what I was hoping, you tiny witch!", Young-Do growled at her and turned around, Eun-Sang still in his arms – only that she wasn't trying to get away from him by now. Actually she was even lightly leaning against him, which made Young-Do significantly calm down.

"What the hell are you even doing with the welfare student here?", Yoo Rachel then demanded, looking at the duo that had yet to separate.

"We were going to watch a movie, genius", Young-Do replied and glanced at Eun-Sang, who took a barely noticeable step forward, causing him to take off his arms from her. He expected her to walk away or shout back at Yoo Rachel, but all she did was stand next to him.

"Yeah and that's what we're going to do now. Young-Do? Are you coming?", Eun-Sang sweetly asked, grabbing his hand.

"Of course. Kim Tan, Yoo Rachel – see you on Monday", he told them in a neutral voice, gave them a barely noticeable nod and walked off, following Cha Eun-Sang to the snack section. He wanted so badly to turn around and to glance at their expressions, but he resisted it and only smiled down at their intertwined hands.

"What about the fee to clean my dress?", Yoo Rachel mumbled as she saw them walking off. She hated to admit it, but Choi Young-Do and Cha Eun-Sang looked good together and…she couldn't help but to feel relieved. Relieved, because if Cha Eun-Sang was on a date with Choi Young-Do, then that meant that the girl didn't have any interest in her fiancée, Kim Tan.

"Let it go, Rachel, I'll just buy you a new one", Kim Tan snapped at her and walked off towards the elevators of the building, pressing the button down.

 **[…]**

"Okay, so that was a…"

"Horrible night? Yes, I agree", Young-Do interjected quietly and received a nudge from Cha Eun-Sang, while they sat in the nearly empty bus.

"No! I would've said something along the lines of interesting"

"Interesting?", Young-Do chuckled and shook his head. "Did we really witness the same evening?"

"Hey! Don't be so mean", bickered with him and took a sip from her iced tea, which she had purchased at the cinema just before taking their bus home. "Okay, that encounter and dispute with Yoo Rachel was a bit…tense, but from then on I really liked it. Didn't you?"

"Tense is a very gentle word, chainsaw. You nearly wanted to rip off her head!"

"I did not! I just… not-so-gently pulled out her hairclip AND I gave it back to her…"

"Yeah, yeah… I know", Young-Do interrupted her and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her nearer to him to mess up the ponytail she had just made. "But you're right, after that I enjoyed our evening very much. We should do it once again, but next time I get to choose the movie – and it will be not a horror movie! I don't get it – why does a sweet girl like you, like and watch such brutal stuff?"

Cha Eun-Sang pushed his arm away and demonstratively leaned against the window. "I never said I was a sweet girl", she told him with a raised eyebrow – a habit she had picked up quite recently thanks to a certain someone. "Everyone just assumes that I am, but I'm not – at least I don't consider myself being a 'sweet girl'. What do people even want to express by saying such things?"

"Yah! Don't get all philosophical on me, please! It's nearly midnight, I do not wish to have any such discussions now – my brain can't take it", Young-Do nearly pleaded with her and rubbed his neck, trying to feel more comfortable in this very uncomfortable seat. People of his height simply weren't meant to sit on these tiny seats. "Look, I just want to say that… you're a cute girl, you're nice to everyone, you take care of people that don't deserve it – because trust me, I do have some first hand experience here – all in all you're just a great girl, a great friend and a not-so-lovely roommate. If you want to have it in one word – girlfriend material."

"That were two words, genius", Cha Eun-Sang informed him with laughter and gave him a wink. "So, first of all – thank you for all these lovely compliments, but I will not wash your laundry!", she pointed out, earning a defeated look from Young-Do.

"I tried…"

"And failed."

"You were saying?"

"Ah yes, well… I am nice to the people that are nice with me and you are not an undeserving person, Young-Do. It's just… we had a rough start and we both know that we didn't always mean the things we said to each other. Agreed, you did some…nasty stuff, which really hurt me and for a certain time period I did dislike you, but that's the past. If we always keep on looking back and hold grudges against people our entire life long – then we'll at one point or another end up all along. But not just that, to grow we have to put certain things behind us and accept them or try new things. The moment you accepted to stay at my place and to work things out between us, was the moment we both left the things we did behind us. So I only start 'counting' from the moment on you started staying with me – and you've been very deserving. You've been so nice to me, you've helped me at home without me having to ask for it, you've taken care of me… I do not see how you could be undeserving, Young-Do", Cha Eun-Sang finished and offered her friend, who had been rendered completely speechless, a genuine smile.

For a long time no words were spoken between the duo. Eun-Sang turned to look back out the bus's windows, while Young-Do still had his mouth wide open. Young-Do for his part couldn't believe what he had just heard coming out from her mouth. She had said so many good things about him that he nearly couldn't believe that he was the person she was talking about. All these years he had always acted like a complete jerk, a bully, a heartless thug and now…. For so many years he had never heard someone say something good about him, something nice to him, not even his very own father, let alone his family and now a girl, whom he had only known for some few months, said all these beautiful things. He was completely speechless. His heart was frantically beating in his chest and a million thoughts went through his mind, but he couldn't voice a single one. He felt his eyes water as he felt his feelings for her even grow and for the first time in years, he had the impression that it was okay to show her this side of him. A completely vulnerable side and he loved it. He felt as if he could breathe again, as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest and as all these thoughts clouded his mind, he let his heart act. He leaned in and kissed her.

* * *

 **0_0 Another Cha Eun-Sang/Choi Young-Do moment! So? What did you think of this chapter? Please let me know by leaving a comment at the end ;D thank you! P.S. It might take me a while to update again, I'll try to update next month (but I won't make any promises), as I just started with university. I hope you'll be able to forgive me ^^**


	11. Chapter 11

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Merry Christmas to all my lovely readers! I know it's been a while since I last updated – I'm very sorry for that – but I hope you'll like it. Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters! I hope that you'll enjoy this 11** **th** **chapter (Can't believe we're already so far)! Have fun reading and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^ P.S. Unfortunately I cannot promise anything for the next update – I'm trying my very best, but there's so much going on =_=**

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"Cha Eun-Sang?", Eun-Sang suddenly heard Young-Do asking, but she couldn't figure out how he could still talk while he was kissing her. She could feel and see his lips attached to hers, so why was he talking? How could he be talking? "Cha Eun-Sang! Cha Eun-Sang!"

And suddenly her vision started to shake and she felt like someone was shaking her and then it suddenly got bright again. Cha Eun-Sang blinked once, then twice.

"Yah! We need to get off now!", Choi Young-Do exclaimed to her and upon realizing that she wasn't moving, he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bus and onto the busy streets of Seoul.

They continued walking down the streets, in complete silent and still hand in hand. While Young-Do didn't mind this, he did mind that Cha Eun-Sang seemed so lost in her own thoughts.

"Are you going to tell me what you're thinking about or will I have to guess it?", Young-Do asked her after a few more minutes spent in silence. When he noticed that she wasn't reacting to his words, he thought about repeating his words, but exactly at that moment Cha Eun-Sang turned to look at him

"Guess what? There's nothing to guess at all. I'm just tired okay?", Eun-Sang snapped at him and pulled her jacket closer to her body. Young-Do instantly mourned their loss of contact but kept his mouth shut. The air was cool, but it wasn't that that made Eun-Sang shiver. She was thinking about the dream she had had in the bus and what this meant for her future – for their future even!

Young-Do who was now several steps behind her only raised his eyebrows at her behavior. He hadn't meant to make her angry, he had thought about teasing her a bit more but her reaction truly surprised him and he couldn't help but to wonder what had caused her to snap at him. Their evening had been going so well (except for that encounter with Yoo Rachel and Kim Tan). Was she thinking about that? Could it be that she didn't want to be seen with him? But if that were the case then she would've reacted way earlier and not now. Had it something to do with her falling asleep on the bus? Was she embarrassed?

Young-Do simply couldn't tell and it bothered him greatly. He had to do something to clear this situation up or else he wouldn't be able to sleep at all. He knew that she wouldn't tell him exactly what caused this change of mood – she was simply too stubborn, but he would at least try to lift the mood a bit, thus he sprinted forward, blocked Eun-Sang's path and kneeled before her, but with his back to her.

"Hop on."

"What?"

"Hop on."

"Why should I?"

"Yah! Cha Eun-Sang! Just accept my piggyback ride!"

 **Minutes later**

"See? That piggyback ride isn't all that bad, right?", Choi Young-Do demanded after a few minutes, but instead of getting an answer he heard a very quiet snore. "Well that hasn't happened to me before…", he muttered and held her a little tighter to make sure that she wouldn't fall down. He chuckled lightly to himself and continued to ascend the street towards their neighborhood. Young-Do had to admit that he never would've thought that he'd be calling a neighborhood like this 'his' or even 'home'. But that was exactly what this neighborhood to him now was – it had become his home.

As a child he had often watched movies, where children kept on saying they wanted to go home or even sayings like: 'Home is where the heart is'…he had never understood it, but now he believed he did and he wanted to keep it, to cherish it, to protect it with all his might and to never let go. Young-Do could barely think back to times when his mom was still around, had he then felt this good?

"If you could only hear my thoughts, Eun-sang…you'd be surprised how cheesy I became! Yah! That's your fault!", he muttered quietly and froze as he heard his name being uttered by Cha Eun-Sang.

She moved a bit on his back and suddenly he felt her warm, soft lips on his neck, followed by his name once again and only seconds later this was followed by a snore. Choi Young-Do didn't know what to do. He was at a complete loss of words, he could barley move and his breath was coming out in short huffs. He knew that he was looking like a complete moron, standing in the middle of the road, eyes probably as wide as saucers with a sleeping girl on his back.

 _'_ _If you only knew what you're doing to me, Eun-Sang…'_ , he thought to himself and continued walking to their home. _'Get a damn grip! She's sleeping…she probably doesn't even know what she's doing…Okay, she CAN'T know what she's doing – she's sleeping! Gosh! Now I'm even rambling in my head! Seriously! She turned you into a complete fool, a lovesick fool…'_

Young-Do groaned as he carried Eun-Sang to the rooftop, his back was hurting, but he didn't want to disturb her peaceful slumber. She had gone through a lot recently and he was mostly at fault, the least he could do was let her get some sleep – even if she had acted in a strange manner tonight. Once in front of the door, he tried to get the keys out of his leather jacket, but the keys were too deep inside the pocket, he could hear them rustling, but somehow he couldn't get a grip on them.

Just as he was considering waking Cha Eun-Sang, the front door opened and a slightly smaller guy than Choi Young-Do stepped out. Immediately he recognized him as his former best friend's brother, Kim Won, the CEO of Jeguk Group.

"Choi Young-Do, I was wondering when I'd get to see you…", Kim Won spoke quietly and looked at the pair from head to toe. To Young-Do it seemed that Kim Won had looked at him disapprovingly, but that look was so short that Young-Do wasn't sure if he had really seen it or just imagined it.

Without any further words Kim Won stepped aside to let Young-Do enter. Young-Do felt anger at the knowledge that Kim Won had a key to their home, that he had made usage of it and that he had been in their home for god knows how long.

Quietly and delicately he put Eun-Sang on their bed, took off her coat, shoes and socks and made sure that she was comfortable before slipping out the front door, Kim Won following after him.

As soon as the front door was closed, Young-Do turned to look at the CEO. It had been a while since he had last seen his former friend's brother, but he hadn't changed a bit. He still wore the tailored suits, neat haircut and impeccably polished shoes.

"How long have you been here?"

"What? No hello? I'm hurt, Young-Do!", Kim Won exclaimed feigning hurt.

"Oh, please. You and I both know you didn't come here to make some small talk – at least not with me. So why are you here?"

"I came to check up on Cha Eun-Sang…and by extent you too", Kim Won spoke quietly and leaned against the closed front door, he folded his arms over his chest and guarded Young-Do. Kim Won noticed a few changes about the lad, he seemed happier than the last time he had seen him – which had been before the downfall of Young-Do's family. Kim Won had to admit to himself that he was rather surprised to see this, he had witnessed several people and families losing all of their money and ending on the streets – and most of them didn't look as happy and well-fed as the young man in front of him.

"How…?"

"How did I know that you live here? Remember that night you got really drunk in that bar and woke up at Eun-Sang's place the next day?"

Young-Do couldn't help but to groan at that. "Of course I do, and from the way you're mentioning this I take it that you're Cha Eun-Sang's mysterious friend who paid my bill and helped her brining me here?"

"I'm glad to see that you can still connect the dots….", Kim Won spoke with some mild amusement. "How have you been coping with…everything?"

"Fine, but you're not really interested in that. Are you here because of the bill? Because I can't pay at the moment, I really can't. I'm currently searching for some jobs to payback your bill and to help Eun-Sang with maintaining the apartment", Young-Do stated with his arms at his side, unable to hold back the anger in his voice. He felt like he had to justify everything in front of the older man and that's why Young-Do hated to be indebted.

"Relax, Choi Young-Do. I am not interested in these measly $500, I was just genuinely interested in how you and Eun-Sang were doing. I know that I must come over as some kind of loan shark, but I'm not. I know and I can see that Eun-Sang is taking care of you and giving it her best shot, but how are YOU doing? But you are right, I do have some other motives too."

"Which are?", Young-Do asked quizzically, rising his eyebrows in an asking manner.

"Straight down to business, I like that, Young-Do!", Kim Won spoke cheerfully and had to chuckle a little. "Alright, today is not the right time neither the right place to discuss it. How about we meet up? Say… tomorrow afternoon at my office."

"I don't think that'll be possible, Eun-Sang wanted to go grocery shopping and to clean up the house a little…", Young-Do tried to explain, but halted as Kim Won started to chuckle.

"I see you're starting to behave like some old married couple", Kim Won observed and couldn't help but to smile fondly at that idea. He was happy to see that the former bully and Cha Eun-Sang were getting along so well. While he had been less than pleased to hear from her new living arrangements, he had to admit that he was happy that she didn't have to be living alone anymore. He had always worried about the girl living all on her own, had tried to persuade her to come living at his place, had even offered to buy her a place in a good neighborhood, but that girl was just too stubborn for her own good – she had refused every single thing.

"Very well, I shall expect you and Eun-Sang at my home on Sunday for dinner", Kim Won spoke and was about to walk away, but suddenly he stopped, took something out of his inner jacket pocket and handed Young-Do his business card. "Keep it well, Young-Do. You might need it once", with that Kim Won took the stairs and disappeared from Young-Do's sight.

Young-Do stood outside for several more minutes on his own, reflecting on the discussion he had just had. He couldn't make any sense of it all. Firstly there was the question of how Cha Eun-Sang knew Kim Tan's older brother, half brother actually, and then why they seemed so friendly, or rather why Kim Won had his own key to their apartment.

But seeing as time passed and he still couldn't figure out the puzzle, as they were clearly many pieces missing, he gave up for the night and stepped inside. After closing the front door he quickly changed into his pajamas, turned off all lights and went to bed.

 **Sunday**

"Did he really not say anything else?", Cha Eun-Sang probably asked for the hundredth time that day, at least it felt like that to Choi Young-Do.

"Will you stop? No! He only said we should both go to his home for dinner", Choi Young-Do answered irritably and made himself comfortable on the bed, while Cha Eun-Sang continued braiding her hair in the bathroom. "And why are you even dressing so well and neat to meet him? You never dress like this when it's just the two of us…"

Cha Eun-Sang instantly came out of the bathroom and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Why should I even dress nicely for you? You see me everyday and you've seen me at my worst, so…why? Aren't my Hello Kitty pajamas nice enough for you?", she asked him and chuckled once she saw his annoyed expression. "What's the matter, Young-Do? Are you…?"

"What?", Young-Do irritably snapped at her.

"No…could it be?"

"WHAT?!"

"You're jealous!", Cha Eun-Sang exclaimed excitedly and grinned from ear to ear.

"What? No!", Choi Young-Do protested loudly and shook his head furiously. He groaned loudly as he realized that his cheeks were getting red and tried to hide it by throwing a pillow at his annoying roommate.

"Oh! Look at you! Are you blushing?!"

"I AM NOT BLUSHING!", Choi Young-Do nearly screamed and furiously stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him only to open it a few seconds later. "Just for your information, I do NOT blush! Ever!", with that said he closed the door once again and locked it.

"Well just for your information as well… I think it's cute when guys blush!", Cha Eun-Sang exclaimed a bit more loudly than necessary and went to search for her shoes. While Cha Eun-Sang was still smiling, she couldn't deny that his question had thrown her off guard. Had she really dressed up too much? A bit worried Cha Eun-Sang went to take a look in the nearby mirror. She was wearing a cute little black dress with a red chocker and a red belt. She had braided her hair and was wearing minimal make up.

"Did I really overdress?", Cha Eun-Sang mumbled to herself, but decided to keep the outfit and to simply ignore Young-Do's comments. It's true that she had been dressed mostly in comfortable and baggy clothes around him, but that was because they were mostly at their apartment. "Whatever, I'm not going to change anything at all!", she finally decided and happily started to hum one of her favorite songs.

 **A few minutes later on the bus**

"Are you close to him?", Young-Do demanded, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Depends. There was a time, yes…but that was before I learned of the different social classes in our society", Cha Eun-Sang answered honestly and checked her watch to make sure that they weren't late. "But as you know quite well…things can change rather fast. Any other questions?"

"Of course…but I can't think of any at the moment", Young-Do admitted with a dazzling smile, causing Cha Eun-Sang to turn her head away from him – she didn't want him to see her blushing. Not that she would admit to doing so…like ever.

"Good, because we have to get off at the next stop. And be careful with the cake, will you?", Cha Eun-Sang had to admonish him, glaring at the way he seemed to mistreat her freshly baked cake.

"I don't even know why we're brining him a cake! It's not like he can't buy one himself…"

"Buying isn't the same as getting a homemade one", Cha Eun-Sang tried to explain to him, but she knew that it was a lost cause. He could be seriously stubborn at times – just like herself, unfortunately.

"Why haven't you made me one?", Young-Do suddenly demanded, as the bus started to slow down.

"Are you being jealous right now?", Eun-Sang demanded while getting up from her seat to exit the bus. She had to admit that she found Young-Do's behavior rather amusing – of course she secretly wondered if he perhaps felt jealous because he had feelings for her.

"I'm not…I just want to have a cake too!", he immediately answered as they were on the streets and glared at the cake in his hands.

"You eat stuff that I cook nearly everyday – isn't that enough for you?"

"No! I want cake too!", Young-Do whined and angrily pouted at his companion, but both soon started laughing and Eun-Sang went to tussle Young-Do's perfectly styled hair. "Hey! Can you not?"

"I like your hair better that way… It's so cute when you wake up in the morning and your hair sticks in every direction", Cha Eun-Sang mused aloud and mimicked with her hands how is hair usually looked like.

"Well at least I look cute…cause…"

"Cause what?", Eun-Sang demanded, her arms crossed over her chest.

"You look like a character straight out from a horror movie in the morning", Young-Do uttered in a rush and took off, running as fast as he could, leaving an angry Cha Eun-Sang behind him.

 **[…]**

Dinner had gone smoothly and had, to Eun-Sang's astonishment, even been rather pleasant. She had expected many things to go wrong, had even expected a fight between the two men, but no such thing happened and Eun-Sang was very grateful for that. She knew of the tension between Young-Do and Kim Tan and had more or less expected for it to be the same with Kim Won.

"How do you cope with him living at your apartment?", Kim Won asked Cha Eun-Sang as the stood outside on the balcony, while Choi Young-Do had excused himself for a short while.

"At first I thought it would be a nightmare!", Cha Eun-Sang admitted and had to chuckle a little. "But actually it's rather pleasant…it feels safe. I used to sleep rather uncomfortably, because I always feared a burglar would burst through the door at any moment, but that's all in the past now."

"Why did you never tell me that? You know I have more than enough rooms in my house and you are welcome to stay here", Kim Won told her seriously, but Cha Eun-Sang just shook her head at his offer.

"I didn't want to disturb you, you have more important things to think about. You really don't need to worry about your former maid's daughter…"

"Cha Eun-Sang!", Kim Won protested and grabbed her arms, forcing her to look at him. "You know that this has never been the way I looked at your mum or at you. I really care for the both of you! You're practically family, so stop with this nonsense of being the former maid's daughter!", Kim Won exclaimed and turned away from her, looking down at his impeccable garden. "While I still feel like you should come and live here, with him if it has to be, I'm at least happy that you're feeling safe…but if anything happens, if you need anything at all, come here. Okay?"

"Okay, okay. But really, you're worrying too much – you're worse than my mother!", Cha Eun-Sang exclaimed while laughing.

"Yah! Are you making fun of me?", Kim Won demanded with his arms crossed, trying to seem annoyed, but the grin on his face was a big giveaway.

"Me? No…never!", Eun-Sang barely managed to utter, as Kim Won started tickling her as if there was no tomorrow.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Oh! Young-Do!", Cha Eun-Sang smiled brightly at him, as Kim Won released her and straightened his jacket. "You weren't interrupting anything at all, that four-year-old just wouldn't stop tickling me."

"Four-year-old? Ha! I hardly believe a four-year-old would be this tall and handsome…", Kim Won quickly interjected, but Young-Do's sniggering made him stop. "What? You have something to say?"

"Nothing at all, I would never object to what your majesty is saying!"

"Wow…and that's coming from you…", Cha Eun-Sang interjected, receiving questioning looks from both males. "You see…Choi Young-Do over here as an ego probably as big as a planet, and with you…I'd say both of your ego's together could nearly form a solar system!"

"Has she always been this rude?", Choi Young-Do asked Kim Won with amusement.

"Oh yes…it's just that since she's going to your school she actually dares to say such things out loud! When she was younger, she would only ever glare at you and you could pretty much guess what she was thinking, but now… oh… her mouth will get her into trouble once, I'm sure of it!", Kim Won explained to the younger male and shared a good laugh with him.

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 **Finally, an appearance of Kim Won! Some had requested a chapter with him in it and here it is! He won't be appearing that often, but maybe from time to time** **J** **Honestly I would've never thought this story would last for so long, but here we are at the end of the 11** **th** **chapter! :0 Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and please leave a comment to let me know what you thought of it :D Again… I'm so terribly sorry that it took me so long to provide you all with an update :/**


	12. Chapter 12

**-Disclaimer- I don't own anything at all (sadly)! Thank you so much for reading the previous chapters! I'm really, really sorry that it took me so long to update. With university and exams, I just couldn't find the time to write and update this story. Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that the next update won't take as long – but I'll try my best. Sorry once again and I hope that you'll enjoy this new chapter! Have fun reading and leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

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A week passed by without any incidents neither at home nor at school. Choi Young-Do couldn't be happier, while Cha Eun-Sang was getting more nervous each passing day. She thought it was fishy that everything seemed to be so calm and going smoothly – because until now nothing had ever been calm or been going smoothly since she started coming to this school. She saw how happy Young-Do was about that, but she couldn't help but to be angry with herself because she really didn't feel that way. Eun-Sang had this weird feeling that a storm was brewing up, after all it did say 'the calm before the storm'.

"Are you still thinking about what could go wrong or happen this week?" Choi Young-Do asked, while they walked next to each other to school, each with their breakfast in hand. It had become their routine to take the bus to a convenience store and from there to walk to their school. Especially Eun-Sang loved it, she could always prepare herself mentally for their long school days. While Young-Do wasn't that much of a fan of these walks, he happily obliged because he loved to see the girl smile.

"It's not what 'could' go wrong…I just know _something_ will!", Eun-Sang insisted and glanced behind her, suddenly feeling as if someone was watching them. However, there was not a single person to be seen – something that did worry her.

"There you go again! Do you always have to bring the mood down? Can't you just accept the fact that maybe things are changing for us and that it'll be a great week like the week before?"

"How can I do that, Young-Do? Tell me? As far as I know…all the past few months, there has never been a 'calm' day for me at this school! It's not normal!"

"You're being paranoid", Choi Young-Do insisted and decided to not continue talking about that subject, it would just make them both mad, because both could be incredibly stubborn – even if they'd never admit to it out loud. "I'm surprised they haven't announced anything yet…", Young-Do suddenly mumbled to himself, but Cha Eun-Sang being the ever curious girl asked what he meant by that. "You know there'll be an excursion soon, at least there should be…we've had it every year so far – and that since Kindergarten."

"What kind of excursion?", Eun-Sang demanded as they entered the school's campus through the 'back' entrance, so as not to been seen by people such as Kim Tan or Yoo Rachel – not because Young-Do and Eun-Sang were walking to school together (many students had already seen them and some had even started some rumors).

"It changes every year, but usually it's something that has to do with sports or sightseeing…the teachers decided where we're headed to, but the principal gets the final say", Young-Do explained as they entered the school building, quickly making their way to Eun-Sang's locker, as Young-Do's was still being fixed.

Just as Eun-Sang was closing her locker, well now "their" locker really, Yoo Rachel and her little minions came to stand next to them with her arms crossed. Eun-Sang was tempted to roll her eyes, but decided that it wouldn't help her cause and to simply stay still. She would not do or say anything before Yoo Rachel opened her mouth.

"You really do flaunt your lack of money as if it were something to be proud of…", Yoo Rachel remarked and looked down with disgust at Eun-Sang's old shoes.

"Yoo Rachel, don't you have anything better to do?", Young-Do demanded leisurely, leaning against Cha Eun-Sang's locker to prove his point that he wasn't impressed by Yoo Rachel or her minions.

"Are you her new voice?", Yoo Rachel shot back immediately and glared at Young-Do.

"Why? Does it annoy you? Don't you have Tan to annoy or…has he already fled?", Young-Do countered, taking a step towards the school's 'queen'.

"Fled? Oh please, he isn't the coward your father is!", Yoo Rachel shouted and took a step towards him as well.

Eun-Sang watch in horror as Young-Do's fist started to clench and unclench. She knew that there was just so much he could take without lashing out. Unfortunately, whenever it concerned his dad, Young-Do was anything but tolerant – not because he wanted to protect the man, but because he didn't want to be associated with him in any possible way.

Before Young-Do had time to do anything at all, Eun-Sang quickly jumped in between them – having seen a teacher down the long hallway. She wanted to get away as fast as possible so as not to get into trouble again – it would please the principal too much and just give her a reason to kick her out as well.

"Yoo Rachel, as always it was an absolute pleasure talking with you, but unfortunately we have to go somewhere. See you around!", Eun-Sang exclaimed hastily, grabbed Young-Do's hand and pulled him in the opposite direction of where the teacher was coming from.

 **[…]**

"I could've handled her myself! There was no need for you to interfere", Young-Do grumbled angrily as soon as they arrived on the school's rooftop and leaned against the door to the rooftop. He angrily looked at his roommate, wondering just why the hell she had pulled him away from a confrontation with Yoo Rachel.

"Yeah, I totally saw that…", she mocked him, while looking down at the school's beautiful garden through which they had entered only a few minutes ago.

"What did you say?", Young-Do wanted to know with crossed arms and raised eyebrows – challenging her to repeat her words as he came to stand next to her.

"Oh now don't try to start a fight with me!", Eun-Sang exclaimed and turned to look at her roommate. Why couldn't he see that she had only tried to help him? "You know as well as I do that I was just speaking the truth! I'm not trying to anger you, but it's a fact that whenever your dad is mentioned that you completely lose it! You might've handled her on your own, but that teacher, who was just coming down the hall, would've kicked you out of school and me probably as well! So excuse me for trying to look out for you! Excuse me for trying to be a good friend to you – a friend that actually gives a damn about you!", Eun-Sang finished screaming and stormed out, slamming the door behind her and leaving a baffled Young-Do behind her on the rooftop.

Eun-Sag was fuming and at the same time she wanted to cry. Just what she had predicted all week was happening, but what just happened could only be the tip of the iceberg - she was sure of it. There was just this feeling of impeding doom that seemed to have lingered with her all week. She descended the stairs as quickly as possible as tears started to flow down and blurring her vision. Eun-Sang thought that she heard Young-Do following her and quickly looked behind her, too make sure that she wasn't imagining things, but missed a step just that instant. She couldn't help but to let out a scream as she started falling down the stairs. She desperately tried to pull in her head and to shield her face, but the world was tumbling too much and everything happened too fast. The last thing she felt was the painful impact on the floor and then everything turned black.

 **[…]**

To say that Kim Tan was annoyed would be an understatement. So far the day had been…crappy (to put it nicely) and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. He had had a long conversation with his father that morning, actually it was more him getting criticized and ordered around, then an actual conversation – truthfully, he couldn't remember the last time he had had a genuine conversation with his father not relating to their family business. To make matters even worse, his brother, well his half brother really, had joined their meeting.

Kim Won and Kim Tan had never gotten along too well, there were many reasons for that. One was that Kim Tan had spent most of his teenage years in the States and thus they couldn't form any kind of bond. The other one was Kim Tan's birth and thus his actual status – he was after all only an illegitimate son, the son of a mistress. However, only six people knew of it. His father, Kim Won, his biological mother (the one he called 'mom') and his 'mother' – his father's second wife, ironically also the principal of this school, Choi Young-Do (he had found him in a weak instant when they were still best friends and had spilled the beans to Young-Do) and of course he knew too. So whenever he happened to meet his brother, a person he greatly admired since his early childhood, things were tense and often very quiet.

It seemed to Kim Tan that he always disappointed everyone in his family, but mostly his father and his brother. He tried so hard to please them – as example by accepting the fact that he was engaged to a person against his will without saying anything at all, or by not complaining when he had been sent away – but everything he did, seemed to displease them.

What annoyed Kim Tan most was that Kim Won had seemed to laugh at him during the entire time of their meeting. Not laughing openly, but much rather sporting a mocking smile. When their father had left the premises, Kim Won had turned to him and had told him to keep Yoo Rachel in check – that she shouldn't cause Cha Eun-Sang any more trouble and if he cared for his position as 'heir' of Jeguk Group he'd do so.

' _What kind of relationship does he have with her?! Why does he seem so close to her? How come he has the right to say these things to me and she's always so hostile towards me? Every time I smile at her she just looks likes she wants to get the hell away from me…like I'm some poisonous creature… Doesn't she realize that the real evil is Choi Young-Do? How come she's always hanging out with him? I was sure that she'd be the first one to dance around and to be happy when the news broke out of Young-Do's new social status…but the opposite. They're not leaving each other's side at all! They're always laughing and smiling together, talking all the time and not caring a whim that they're the poorest people in this school!',_ Kim Tan thought while walking through their busy school. Wherever he looked there were people and he just felt like he was suffocating. He needed some air and the only two places to get some were the roof and the gardens. However, the latter one was three stories away and obliged him to walk through crowds of students – while the roof was just one down the hall and one flight of stairs up.

After having made his mind up he accelerates his walk to get to his destination, when he suddenly heard a loud scream coming from that direction. He felt a chill run down his spine, having the impression that the scream sounded somewhat familiar and took off running. Once there he felt like his heart stopped beating for a split second. Lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs, was no one else but the girl who had occupied his thoughts all morning long. Eun-Sang wasn't moving at all as he approached her and called her name, he tried shaking her a little, but she wouldn't budge. He crouched next to her still form, and turned her around so he could see her face. There was an open wound on her forehead and it was bleeding a lot.

As he heard the rooftop door open, he snapped out of his daze, scooped her up in his arms and ran to the infirmary. He had just turned around a corner when he heard fast footsteps approaching, he tried to accelerate as he had the feeling that he knew who was behind him, but unfortunately the person beat him to it.

Young-Do gasped as he saw who Kim Tan was carrying and felt nauseous as he saw her bleeding wound. "What the hell happened?!", he demanded angrily and tried to take her from his arms, but Kim Tan just turned away and accelerated.

"I don't know – I just heard a scream and discovered her unconscious and bleeding at the foot of the stairs… I suppose she fell down the stairs", Kim Tan quickly explained.

"And you just picked her up?! Are you crazy?!", Young-Do exclaimed and felt rage rise in him. He couldn't believe that his former best friend had so little knowledge of first aid, that he possibly risked her life. "Don't you know that you're not supposed to so carelessly pick up a person that just fell?! Especially if it's stairs? What if she has some damage to her spine? You might've just paralyzed her!", he continued lecturing him and had to take some deep breaths. It wouldn't do him any good if he were to lose his cool now, Eun-Sang needed him at the moment. "You and your damn hero complex! You better pray that you didn't cause her any lasting damage!"

"Just shut up! I was just trying to help", Kim Tan stressed and sent his former friend a hard glance as they came to stand in front of the infirmary's door. "Are you waiting for an invitation to knock or what?!", he snapped.

 **[…]**

Cha Eun-Sang woke up with a killer headache, only a few short minutes after they entered the infirmary. The nurse had called the hospital, even if Eun-Sang was insisting that it wasn't necessary at all. They had put a band aid on her forehead and were keeping her lying down – but that proofed a rather difficult task.

"Can't you just stay still for five minutes?", Young-Do demanded from the chair next to the bed Eun-Sang was currently lying on.

"Can't you like shut up?", Kim Tan interjected and received a glare from both students. "What?"

"No one wants your presence here", Young-Do instantly responded and glared at his former best friend.

"Young-Do!", Cha Eun-Sang exclaimed with mortification and instantly shot up, causing her to groan in pain and to nearly fall off the bed as her vision turned black for a few seconds and she lost all equilibrium. But Young-Do was able to catch her in his arms and looked worriedly down at her. She was pale and generally looked weak.

"You can go now, Kim Tan", Young-Do said with a dismissive tone, only glancing shortly at the other male in the room.

"I'm not going till she tells me to leave. You have no say here, Young-Do."

"Ah really? Says who?", Young-Do challenged him, gently helping Eun-Sang back into a comfortable position on the bed.

"Can you guys just please stop? You're being too loud and my head hurts like hell. So either you both shut up or one of you leaves", Eun-Sang spoke quietly and put her arm over her eyes, shielding them from the light that was too bright and hurting her. "Kim Tan, thanks for bringing me here and sorry for Young-Do's behavior…"

"Yah! There's nothing wrong with my behavior…", Young-Do protested. Young-Do opened his mouth to say something again, when the nurse and two paramedics entered the infirmary.

"We've called your guardian; he'll be joining us at the hospital. You two boys have to leave now and go back to your classes", she informed the trio as the paramedics checked Cha Eun-Sang and helped her onto a stretcher.

"I'm not leaving her", Young-Do instantly interjected and Kim Tan quickly said the same thing, causing Cha Eun-Sang to roll her eyes – well as good as she could in her condition.

"Why is that?", the nurse demanded with crossed arms, glaring at the two young males. She knew them well, both used to frequently visit the infirmary – sometimes at the same time because they had gotten into a fight with each other.

"I'm her boyfriend", Young-Do simply stated and sported a satisfied smirk, because the nurse gaped at him and Kim Tan was glaring furiously because he now had no real reason to continue insisting.

"We're leaving now, you can continue fighting about who gets to come with us, but we only have one seat left and we're leaving fast. So hurry up and decided or none of you gets to come with us", the younger paramedic uttered as they started to move out of the room.

"Well in that case it's clear, I should accompany my girlfriend – it's only natural to do so", Choi Young-Do stated with satisfaction and followed the paramedic's out of the room, smiling all the way.

Kim Tan could only watch with jealousy and anger as Young-Do left with Eun-Sang. He seethed with anger at his audacity of uttering such words. He didn't quite know if his former friend was speaking the truth, but he decided to not believe him till Cha Eun-Sang uttered these words herself. He knew that he didn't have a right to behave the way he did, but something just attracted him to her. He just couldn't help it and knew that this caused her to suffer even more. The responsible party for her pain was Yoo Rachel, his very own fiancé, who was extremely jealous of everyone that socialized with him.

"Aren't you going to go back to class?", the nurse demanded, effectively pulling him out of his thoughts.

 **[…]**

"Let me guess, the other tall guy is your ex?", the young paramedic asked Cha Eun-Sang as they were preparing to drive off.

"No, he actually isn't…he's my guardian's half brother"

"Complicated story?", he asked her and received a nod and a grimace from her.

 **[…]**

"Young girl, you're lucky. You must have had some guardian angel, because the amount of steps you fell down usually doesn't end in a mild concussion and bruises", the doctor told them once all test results had come out and Kim Won had arrived. "Once you get home stay in a horizontal position, don't move if it's not necessary and rest. Rest is very important at the moment. Have a goodnight's sleep and don't go to school tomorrow. Don't read today, or only if it's necessary and don't spend too much time on your phone either – it might make you dizzy. As for the rest of the week I will give you dispensation for gym classes. Don't overdo it with school work either – have your boyfriend do it", the doctor finished with a wink at a blushing Cha Eun-Sang and said his goodbyes before walking away.

"Did I miss something?", Kim Won questioned the duo. He noticed that Eun-Sang was trying to look anywhere but at him and Young-Do, while the latter looked like the cat who ate the canary.

"It was the fastest way to get your brother dearest out of the way", Young-Do explained calmly and started pushing Eun-Sang's wheelchair (she was still too dizzy to walk) towards the exit of the emergency room.

"What does my brother have to do with your accident?"

"Apparently he found me and brought me to the infirmary… Young-Do and him got into a pissing contest, trying to debate who got to come with me to the hospital… that's when Young-Do uttered these words", Eun-Sang explained with annoyance, wanting it all to be over as soon as possible so she could have a good rest and sleep.

"What can I say? You have to act fast in situations like these…", Young-Do uttered innocently and continued pushing the wheelchair with contempt.

"Unbelievable…", Kim Won muttered as he followed the two young adults and couldn't help but to grin.

* * *

 **That's it for the 12** **th** **chapter! I don't know why but I never really liked Kim Tan… sorry for all Tan fans out there XD I hope you liked it and please leave a comment at the end to let me know what you thought of it :D**


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